UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


UMVF  TFORN1A 

.  LO::  i.ES 

LIBRARY 


HONORS  DE  BALZAC 


462P 


firnn.  a,  jkntcJi,  - 
eU 


HIS  LIFE  AND 
WRITINGS 


BY 

MARY   F.   SANDARS 


WITH  PORTRAITS 


NEW    YORK 


1905 
Fk.8  1908 


Copyright,  1904, 

BY 
DODD,  MEAD  &  COMPAKT 

* 

Published,    February 
1905. 


IB 

sei  v. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

Balzac's  claims  to  greatness — The  difficulty  in  attempting  a 
complete  Life — His  complex  character — The  intention 
of  this  book 1 

CHAPTER  II 

Balzac's  appearance,  dress,  and  personality — His  imaginary 
world  and  schemes  for  making  money — His  family, 
childhood,  and  school-days 15 

CHAPTER  III 

Balzac's  tutors  and  law  studies — His  youth,  as  pictured  in 
the  "Teau  de  Chagrin" — -His  father  Js  mtenti6n  of 
making  him  a  lawyer — He  begs  to  be  allowed  to  be- 
come a  writer — Is  allowed  his  wish — Life  in  the  Rue 
Lesdiguieres — He  writes  "Cromwell"  a  tragedy  .  .  42 

CHAPTER  IV 

Reading  of  ' '  Cromwell ' ' — Balzac  is  obliged  to  live  at 
home — Unhappiness — Writes  Romantic  novels-^Friend- 
ship_wjth  Madame  de  Berny — Starts  in  Paris  as  pub- 
lisher and  afterwards  as  printer — Impending  bankruptcy 
only  prevented  by  help  from  his  parents  and  Madame 
de  Berny 67 


vi  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  V 

PAGE 

Life  in  the  Rue  de  Tournon — Privations  and  despair — Friend- 
ships— Auguste  Borget — Madame  Carraud — The  Duch- 
esse  d'Abrantes — George  Sand,  etc. — "  La  Peau  de 
Chagrin"  and  the  "Physiologic  du  Mariage  " — -His 
right  to  be  entitled  "  De  Balzac" 86 


CHAPTER   VI 

Work  and  increasing  fame — Emile  de  Girardin — I^alzac^s 
early  relationsjarith  the  Reyue  de  Paris  arid  quarrel  with 
Amedee  Pichot — First  letters  from  Madame  Hanska 
and  the  Marquise  de  Castries — Balzac's  extraordinary 
mode  of  writing — Burlesque  account  of  it  from  the 
Figaro 107 


CHAPTER  VII 

Crisis  in  Balzac's  private  life — '  Contes  Drolatiques" — Ma- 
dame Hanska's  liTe  before  sheTnet  Balzac — Descrip- 
tion of  her  appearance — "Louis  Lambert" — Disinter- 
estedness of  Madame  de  Berny — Balzac  and  his  mother — 
Balzac  and  the  Marquise  de  Castries — His  despair  .  .128 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Letters  between  Balzac  and  Madame  Hanska — Meeting  at 

Neufchatel — "  Etudes  de  Moeurs  au  XlXieme  Siecle  " — 

Le  Medecin  de  Campagne  " — '  Eugenie  Grandet" — 

Meets  Madame  Hanska  at  Vienna — '   La  Duchesse   de 

Langeais  " — "  La  Recherche  de  1'Absolu  " — "  Le  Pere 

Republishes  romantic  novels 1 49 


CONTENTS  vii 

CHAPTER  IX 


PAGE 

Balzac's  portrait  as  described  by  Gautier — His  character — 
Belief  in  magnetism  arjj  spmnarnhnlisni — His  attempts 
to  become  deputy — His  political  and  religious  views  .  171 


CHAPTER  X 

Balzac  starts  the  Chronique  de  Paris — Balzac  and  Theophile 
Gautier-^Lawsuit  with  the  Revue  de  Paris — Failure  of 
the  Chronique — Travels  in  Italy — Madame  Marbouty — 
Death  of  Madame  de  Berny — Balzac  is  imprisoned  for 
refusal  to  serve  in  Garde  Nationale — Werdet's  failure — 
Disastrous  year  1836 192 


CHAPTER  XI 

Drawing-room  in  Rue  desBatailles — The  Cheval  Rouge  " — 
Second  visit  to  Italy — Buys  Les  Jardies  at  Sevres — 
Travels  to  Sardinia  to  obtain  silver  from  worked-out 
mines — Disappointment — Goes  on  to  Italy — Takes  up 
his  abode  -in  Les  Jardies — "  L'Ecole  des  Menages" — 
He  Defends  Peytel 215 


CHAPTER  XII 

Vautrin  " — La  Revue  Parisienne — Societe  des  Gens-de-Let- 
tres — Death  of  'M.  de  Hanski — '^Les  Ressources  de 
Quinola  " — 'fLa  Comedie  Hunaaifle^ — Balzac  goes  to 
St.  Petersburg  to  meet  Madame  Hanska — Her  reasons 
for  deferring  marriage  237 


viii  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XIII 

PAGE 

Pamela  Giraud  " — Comte  Georges  Mniszech — **  Les  Pay- 
sans  ' ' — Comtesse  Anna  engaged — Dispute  with  Emile  de 
Girardin — "  La  Cousine  Bette  "  and  "  Le  Cousin  Pons  " 
— Marriage  of  Comtesse  Anna — Balzac  and  Madame 
Hanska  engaged 260 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Balzac  buys  a  house — Madame  Hanska's  visit  to  Paris — 
Final  breach  with  Emile  de  Girardin — Projects  for 
writing  for  the  theatre — Goes  to  Wierzchownia — Re- 
turns to  Paris  at  the  eve  of  the  Revolution  of  1848 — 
Stands  for  last  time  as  deputy 283 


CHAPTER  XV 

Description  of  interior  of  house  in  the  Rue  Fortunee —  La 
Maratre  " — Projected  plays- — '  Le  Faiseur  —  Balzac 
seeks  admission  for  the  last  time  to  the  Academic  Fran- 
caise — He  returns  to  Wierzchownia — Failing  health — 
Letters  to  his  family — Family  relations  strained  .  .  305 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Peace  between  Balzac  and  his  family — Madame  Hanska's 
vacillations — Visit  to  Kiev — Marriage — Letters  to  his 
mother,  sister,  and  to  Madame  Carraud — Terrible  jour- 
ney— Madame  de  Balzac's  pearl  necklace  and  strange 
letter — Balzac's  married  life — Arrival  in  Paris  .  .  326 


CONTENTS 


IX 


|.ilzac's  ill-health — Theophile  Gautier  and  Victor  Hugo — 
Balzac's  grief  about  the  unfinished  Comedie  Hu- 
maine^*— Victor  Hugo's  account  of  his  death-bed^— 
Death  and  funeral — Life  afterwards  in  the  Rue  For- 
tunee— Fate  of  Balzac's  MSS.— His 


PAGE' 


ILLUSTRATIONS 
* 

HONORE  DE  BALZAC Frontispiece 

Facing  page 

RODIN'S  STATUE  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC   ...     76 

EXHIBITED  IN  PARIS  AT  L'EXPOSITION  DES  BEAUX-ARTS  IN 

1898. 
This  is  only  modelled,   and  has  never  been  sculptured. 

BALZAC.     FROM  DAVID'S  SKETCH 152 

BALZAC  SIGNATURE  220 

Facsimile  of  the  last  page  of  an  article  entitled  :    ' '  Du 

Gouvernement  Moderne,"  written  by  Balzac  at  Aix  in 

1832. 

This  specimen  was  kindly  given  to  the  Author  by  the 

Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul,  who  possesses  the 

original 

A  RARE  PORTRAIT  OF  BALZAC 300 

FROM  DAGUERREOTYPE  TAKEN  IN  1 842  AND  NOW  IN  POSSES- 
SION OF  THE  VICOMTE  DE  SPOELBERCH   DE  LOVENJOUL. 

This  is  said  by  the  Vicomte  to  be  the  only  portrait  he 
knows  which  is  a  likeness  with  no  attempt  at  arrange- 
ment or  interpretation.  Supposed  to  have  been  given 
only  to  Balzac's  sister  and  to  a  few  friends. 


xi 


PREFACE 

*  - 

BOOKS  about  Balzac  would  ml  a  fair-sized  library. 
Criticisms  on  his  novels  abound,  and  his  contempora- 
ries have  provided  us  with  several  amusing  volumes 
dealing  in  a  humorous  spirit  with  his  eccentricities, 
and  conveying  the  impression  that  the  author  of  "  La 
Cousine  Bette  "  and  "  Le  Pere  Goriot "  was  nothing 
more  than  an  amiable  buffoon. 

Nevertheless,  by  some  strange  anomaly,  there 
exists  no  life  of  him  derived  from  original  sources, 
incorporating  the  information  available  since  the 
appearance  of  the  volume  called  "  Lettres  a  1'^tran- 
gere."  This  book,  which  is  the  source  of  much  of  our 
present  knowledge  of  Balzac,  is  a  collection  of  letters 
written  by  him  from  1833  to  1844  to  Madame  Han- 
ska,  the  Polish  lady  who  afterwards  became  his  wife. 
The  letters  are  exact  copies  of  the  originals,  having 
been  made  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Loven- 
joul,  to  whom  the  autographs  belong. 

It  seems  curious  that  no  one  should  yet  have  made 
use  of  this  mine  of  biographical  detail.  In  English 
we  have  a  Memoir  by  Miss  Wormeley,  written  at  a 
time  when  little  was  known  about  the  great  novelist, 
and  a  Life  by  Mr.  Frederick  Wedmore  in  the  "  Great 
Writers"  Series;  but  this,  like  Miss  Wormeley's 
Memoir,  appeared  before  the  "Lettres  a  1'^tran- 


xiv  PREFACE 

gere"  were  published.  Moreover,  it  is  a  very  small 
book,  and  the  space  in  it  devoted  to  Balzac  as  a  man  is 
further  curtailed  by  several^  chapters  devoted  to  criti- 
cism of  his  work.  The  introduction  to  the  excellent 
translation  of  Balzac's  novels  undertaken  by  Mr. 
Saintsbury  contains  a  short  account  of  his  life,  but 
this  only  fills  a  few  pages  and  does  not  enter  into 
much  detail.  Besides  these,  an  admirable  essay  on 
Balzac  has  appeared  in  "Main  Currents  of  Nine- 
teenth-century Literature,"  by  Dr.  George  Brandes; 
the  scope  of  this,  however,  is  mainly  criticism  of  his 
merits  as  a  writer,  not  description  of  his  personality 
and  doings. 

Even  in  the  French  language  there  is  no  trust- 
worthy or  satisfactory  Life  of  Balzac — a  fact  on 
which  the  numerous  critical  writers  make  many  com- 
ments, though  they  apparently  hesitate  to  throw  them- 
selves into  the  breach  and  to  undertake  one.  Madame 
Surville's  charming  Memoir  only  professes  to  treat  of 
Balzac's  early  life,  and  even  within  these  limits  she 
intentionally  conceals  as  much  as  she  reveals.  M. 
Edmond  Bire,  in  his  interesting  book,  presents  Balzac 
in  different  aspects,  as  Royalist,  playwriter,  admirer 
of  Napoleon,  and  so  on;  but  M.  Bire  gives  no  con- 
nected account  of  his  life,  while  MM.  Hanotaux  and 
Vicaire  deal  solely  with  Balzac's  two  years  as  printer 
and  publisher.  The  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lo- 
venjoul  is  the  one  man  who  could  give  a  detailed  and 
minutely  correct  life  of  Balzac,  as  he  has  proved  by 
the  stores  of  biographical  knowledge  contained  in  his 
works  the  "Roman  d'Amour,"  "Autour  de  Honore 


PREFACE  xv 

de  Balzac,"  "  La  Genese  d'un  Roman  de  Balzac,  *  Les 
Paysans,'  "and  above  all,  "  L'Histoire  des  QEuvres  de 
Balzac,"  which  has  become  a  classic.  The  English  or 
American  reader  would  hardly  be  able  to  appreciate 
these  fascinating  books,  however,  unless  he  were  first 
equipped  with  the  knowledge  of  Balzac  which  would 
be  provided  by  a  concise  Life. 

In  these  circumstances,  helped  and  encouraged  by 
Dr.  Emil  Reich,  whose  extremely  interesting  lectures 
I  had  attended  with  much  enjoyment,  and  who  very 
kindly  gave  me  lists  of  books,  and  assisted  me  with 
advice,  I  engaged  in  the  task  of  writing  this  book.  It 
is  not  intended  to  add  to  the  mass  of  criticism  of  Bal- 
zac's novels,  being  merely  an  attempt  to  portray  the 
man  as  he  was,  and  to  sketch  correctly  a  career  which 
has  been  said  to  be  more  thrilling  than  a  large  propor- 
tion of  novels. 

I  must  apologise  for  occasional  blank  spaces,  for 
when  Balzac  is  with  Madame  Hanska,  and  his  letters 
to  her  cease,  as  a  general  rule  all  our  information 
ceases  also;  and  the  intending  biographer  can  only 
glean  from  scanty  allusions  in  the  letters  written 
afterwards,  what  happened  at  Rome,  Naples,  Dres- 
den, or  any  of  the  other  towns,  to  which  Balzac 
travelled  in  hot  haste  to  meet  his  divinity. 

The  book  has  been  compiled  as  far  as  possible  from 
original  sources;  as  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de 
Lovenjoul — whose  collection  of  documents  relating 
to  Balzac,  Gautier,  and  George  Sand  is  unique,  while 
his  comprehensive  knowledge  of  Balzac  is  the  result 
of  many  years  of  study — has  most  kindly  allowed  me 


xvi  PREFACE 

to  avail  myself  of  his  library  at  Brussels.  There, 
arranged  methodically,  according  to  some  wonderful 
system  which  enables  the  Vicomte  to  find  at  once  any 
document  his  visitor  may  ask  for,  are  hundreds  of 
Balzac's  autograph  writings,  many  of  them  unpub- 
lished and  of  great  interest.  There,  too,  are  portraits 
and  busts  of  the  celebrated  novelist,  letters  from  his 
numerous  admirers,  and  the  proofs  of  nearly  all  his 
novels — those  sheets  covered  with  a  network  of  writ- 
ing, which  were  the  despair  of  the  printers.  The  col- 
lection is  most  remarkable,  even  when  we  remember 
the  large  sums  of  money,  and  the  patience  and  ability, 
which  have  for  many  years  been  f ocussed  on  its  for- 
mation. It  will  one  day  be  deposited  in  the  museum 
of  Chantilly,  near  Paris,  where  it  will  be  at  the  dis- 
posal of  those  who  wish  to  study  its  contents. 

The  Vicomte  has  kindly  devoted  much  time  to 
answering  my  questions,  and  has  shown  me  documents 
and  autograph  letters  the  exact  words  of  which  have 
been  the  subject  of  discussion  and  dispute,  so  that  I 
have  been  able  myself  to  verify  the  fact  that  the 
copies  made  by  M.  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul  are 
taken  exactly  from  the  originals.  He  has  warned  me 
to  be  particularly  careful  about  my  authorities,  as 
many  of  Balzac's  letters — printed  as  though  copied 
from  autographs — are  incorrectly  dated,  and  have 
been  much  altered. 

He  has  further  added  to  his  kindness  by  giving  me 
several  illustrations,  and  by  having  this  book  trans- 
lated to  him,  in  order  to  correct  it  carefully  by  the 
information  to  which  he  alone  has  access.  I  gladly 


PREFACE  xvii 

take  this  opportunity  of  acknowledging  how  deeply  I 
am  indebted  to  him. 

I  cannot  consider  these  words  of  introduction  com- 
plete without  again  expressing  my  sense  of  what  I 
owe  to  Dr.  Reich,  to  whom  the  initial  idea  of  this  book 
is  due,  and  without  whose  energetic  impetus  it  would 
never  have  been  written.  He  has  found  time,  in  the 
midst  of  a  very  busy  life,  to  read  it  through,  and  to 
make  many  valuable  suggestions,  and  I  am  most 
grateful  for  all  he  has  done  to  help  me. 

I  must  finish  by  thanking  Mr.  Curtis  Brown  most 
heartily  for  the  trouble  he  has  taken  on  my  behalf,  for 
the  useful  hints  he  has  given  me,  and  for  the  patience 
with  which  he  has  elucidated  the  difficulties  of  an  inex- 
perienced writer. 

MAEY  F.  SANDARS. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

CHAPTER  I 


Balzac's  claims  to  greatness — The  difficulty  in  attempt- 
ing a  complete  Life — His  complex  character — 
The  intention  of  this  book 

AT  a  time  when  the  so-called  Realistic  School  is  in  the 
ascendant  among  novelists,  it  seems  strange  that  little 
authentic  information  should  have  been  published  in 
the  English  language  about  the  great  French  writer, 
Honore  de  Balzac.  /  Almost  alone  among  his  con- 
temporaries, he  dared  to  claim  the  interest  of  the 
world  for  ordinary  men  and  women  solely  on  the 
ground  of  a  common  humanity. ,  Thus  he  was  the 
first  to  embody  in  literature  the  principle  of  Burns 
that  "  a  man's  a  man  for  a'  that " ;  and  though  this  fact 
has  now  become  a  truism,  it  was  a  discovery,  and  an 
important  discovery,  when  Balzac  wrote.  He  showed 
that,  because  we  are  ourselves  ordinary  men  and 
women,  it  is  really  human  interest,  and  not  sensational 
circumstance,  which  appeals  to  us,  and  that  material 
for  enthralling  drama  can  be  found  in  the  life  of  the 
most  commonplace  person — of  a  middle-aged  shop- 
keeper threatened  with  bankruptcy,  or  of  an  elderly 
musician  with  a  weakness  for  good  dinners.  At  one 
blow  he  destroyed  the  unreal  ideal  of  the  Romantic 
School,  who  degraded  man  by  setting  up  in  his  place 


2  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

a  fantastic  and  impossible  hero  as  the  only  theme 
worthy  of  their  pen ;  and  thus  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  the  modern  novel. 

His  own  life  is  full  of  interest.  He  was  not  a 
recluse  or  a  bookworm;  his  work  was  to  study  men, 
and  he  lived  among  men,  he  fought  strenuously,  he 
enjoyed  lustily,  he  suffered  keenly,  and  he  died  pre- 
maturely, worn  out  by  the  force  of  his  own  emotions, 
and  by  the  prodigies  of  labour  to  which  he  was  im- 
pelled by  the  restless  promptings  of  his  active  brain, 
and  by  his  ever-pressing  need  for  money.  Some  of 
his  letters  to  Madame  Hanska  have  been  published 
during  the  last  few  years;  and  where  can  we  read  a 
more  pathetic  love  story  than  the  record  of  his  seven- 
teen years'  waiting  for  her,  and  of  the  tragic  ending 
to  his  long-deferred  happiness  ?  Or  where  in  modern 
times  can  more  exciting  and  often  comical  tales  of  ad- 
venture be  found  than  the  accounts  of  his  wild  and 
always  unsuccessful  attempts  to  become  a  millionaire? 
His  friends  comprised  most  of  the  celebrated  French 
writers  of  the  day ;  and  though  not  a  lover  of  society, 
he  was  acquainted  with  many  varieties  of  people, 
while  his  own  personality  was  powerful,  vivid,  and 
eccentric. 

Thus  he  appears  at  first  sight  to  be  a  fascinating 
subject  for  biography;  but  if  we  examine  a  little 
more  closely,  we  shall  realise  the  web  of  difficulties  in 
which  the  writer  of  a  complete  and  exhaustive  Life  of 
Balzac  would  involve  himself,  and  shall  understand 
why  the  task  has  never  been  attempted.  The  great 
author's  money  affairs  alone  are  so  complicated  that 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  3 

it  is  doubtful  whether  he  ever  mastered  them  himself, 
and  it  is  certainly  impossible  for  any  one  else  to 
understand  them;  while  he  managed  to  shroud  his 
private  life,  especially  his  relations  to  women,  in 
almost  complete  mystery.  For  some  years  after  his 
death  the  monkish  habit  in  which  he  attired  himself 
was  considered  symbolic  of  his  mental  attitude;  and 
even  now,  though  the  veil  is  partially  lifted,  and 
we  realise  the  great  part  women  played  in  his  life, 
there  remain  many  points  which  are  not  yet 
cleared  up. 

Consequently  any  one  who  attempts  even  in  the 
most  unambitious  way  to  give  a  complete  account  of 
the  great  writer's  life  is  confronted  with  many  blank 
spaces.  It  is  true  that  the  absolutely  mysterious  dis- 
appearances of  which  his  contemporaries  speak  curi- 
ously are  now  partially  accounted  for,  as  we  know 
that  they  were  usually  connected  with  Madame  Han- 
ska,  and  that  Balzac's  sense  of  honour  would  not  allow 
him  to  breathe  her  name,  except  to  his  most  intimate 
friends,  and  under  the  pledge  of  the  strictest  secrecy. 
His  letters  to  her  have  allowed  a  fl^od  of  light  to  pour 
upon  his  hitherto  veiled  personality;  but  they  are 
almost  our  only  reliable  source  of  information. 
Therefore,  when  they  cease,  because  Balzac  is  with  his 
lady-love,  and  we  are  suddenly  excluded  from  his  con- 
fidence, we  can  only  guess  what  is  happening. 

In  this  way,  we  possess  but  the  scantiest  informa- 
tion about  the  journeys  which  occupied  a  great  part 
of  his  time  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life.  We 
know  that  he  travelled,  regardless  of  expense  and 


4  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

exhaustion,  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  by  the  very 
shortest  route,  to  meet  Madame  Hanska;  but  this 
once  accomplished,  we  can  gather  little  more,  and  we 
long  for  a  diary  or  a  confidential  correspondent.  In 
the  first  rapture  of  his  meeting  at  Neufchatel,  he  did 
indeed  open  his  heart  to  his  sister,  Madame  Surville; 
but  his  habitual  discretion,  and  his  care  for  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  woman  he  loved,  soon  imposed  silence  upon 
him,  and  he  ceased  to  comment  on  the  great  drama  of 
his  life. 

The  great  versatility  of  his  mind,  and  the  power  he 
possessed  of  throwing  himself  with  the  utmost  keen- 
ness into  many  absolutely  dissimilar  and  incongruous 
enterprises  at  the  same  time,  add  further  to  the  diffi- 
culty of  understanding  him.  An  extraordinary 
number  of  subjects  had  their  place  in  his  capacious 
brain,  and  the  ease  with  which  he  dismissed  one  and 
took  up  another  with  equal  zest  the  moment  after 
causes  his  doings  to  seem  unnatural  to  us  of  ordinary 
mind.  Leon  Gozlan  gives  a  curious  instance  of  this 
on  the  occasion  of  the  first  reading  of  the  "  Ressources 
de  Quinola." 

Balzac  had  recited  his  play  in  the  green-room  of 
the  Odeon  to  the  assembled  actors  and  actresses,  and 
before  a  most  critical  audience  had  gone  through  the 
terrible  strain  of  trying  to  improvise  the  fifth  act, 
which  was  not  yet  written.  He  and  Gozlan  went 
straight  from  the  hot  atmosphere  of  the  theatre  to 
refresh  themselves  in  the  cool  air  of  the  Luxembourg 
Gardens.  Here  we  should  expect  one  of  two  things 
to  happen.  Either  Balzac  would  be  depressed  with 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  5 

the  ill-success  of  his  fifth  act,  at  which,  according  to 
Gozlan,  he  had  acquitted  himself  so  badly  that 
Madame  Dorval,  the  principal  actress,  refused  to 
take  a  role  in  the  play;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  his 
sanguine  temperament  would  cause  him  to  overlook 
the  drawbacks  and  to  think  only  of  the  enthusiasm 
with  which  the  first  four  acts  had  been  received. 
Neither  of  these  two  things  took  place.  Balzac  "  n'y 
pensait  deja  plus."  He  talked  with  the  greatest 
eagerness  of  the  embellishments  he  had  proposed  to 
M.  Decazes  for  his  palace,  and  especially  of  a  grand 
spiral  staircase,  which  was  to  lead  from  the  centre  of 
the  Luxembourg  Gardens  to  the  Catacombs,  so  that 
these  might  be  shown  to  visitors,  and  become  a  source 
of  profit  to  Paris.  But  of  his  play  he  said  nothing. 
The  reader  of  "Lettres  a  1'Etrangere,"  which  are 
written  to  the  woman  with  whom  Balzac  was  passion- 
ately in  love,  and  whom  he  afterwards  married,  may, 
perhaps,  at  first  sight  congratulate  himself  on  at  last 
understanding  in  some  degree  the  great  author's 
character  and  mode  of  life.  If  he  dives  beneath  the 
surface,  however,  he  will  find  that  these  beautiful  and 
touching  letters  give  but  an  incomplete  picture;  and 
that,  while  writing  them,  Balzac  was  throwing  much 
energy  into  schemes,  which  he  either  does  not  mention 
to  his  correspondent,  or  touches  on  in  the  most  cursory 
fashion.  Therefore  the  perspective  of  his  life  is  dif- 
ficult to  arrange,  and  ordinary  rules  for  gauging 
character  are  at  fault.  We  find  it  impossible  to 
follow  the  principle,  that  because  Balzac  possessed 
one  characteristic,  he  could  not  also  show  a  diamet- 


6  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

rically  opposite  quality — that,  for  instance,  because 
tenderness,  delicacy  of  feeling,  and  a  high  sense  of 
reverence  and  honour  were  undoubtedly  integral 
parts  of  his  personality,  the  stories  told  by  his  con- 
temporaries of  his  occasional  coarseness  must  neces- 
sarily be  false. 

His  own  words,  written  to  the  Duchesse  d'Abrantes 
in  1828,  have  no  doubt  a  great  element  of  truth  in 
them :  "  I  have  the  most  singular  character  I  know. 
I  study  myself  as  I  might  study  another  person,  and 
I  possess,  shut  up  in  my  five  foot  eight  inches,  all  the 
incoherences,  all  the  contrasts  possible ;  and  those  who 
think  me  vain,  extravagant,  obstinate,  high-minded, 
without  connection  in  my  ideas, — a  fop,  negligent, 
idle,  without  application,  without  reflection,  without 
any  constancy;  a  chatterbox,  without  tact,  badly 
brought  up,  impolite,  whimsical,  unequal  in  temper,— 
are  quite  as  right  as  those  wrho  perhaps  say  that  I  am 
economical,  modest,  courageous,  stingy,  energetic, 
a  worker,  constant,  silent,  full  of  delicacy,  polite, 
always  gay.  Those  who  consider  that  I  am  a  coward 
will  not  be  more  wrong  than  those  who  say  that  I  am 
extremely  brave ;  in  short,  learned  or  ignorant,  full 
of  talent  or  absurd,  nothing  astonishes  me  more  than 
myself.  I  end  by  believing  that  I  am  only  an  instru- 
ment played  on  by  circumstances.  Does  this  kaleido- 
scope exist,  because,  in  the  soul  of  those  who  claim  to 
paint  all  the  affections  of  the  human  heart,  chance 
throws  all  these  affections  themselves,  so  that  they  may 
be  able,  by  the  force  of  their  imagination,  to  feel  what 
they  paint?  And  is  observation •  a  sort  of  memory 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  7 

suited  to  aid  this  lively  imagination?     I  begin  to 
think  so." J 

Certainly  Balzac's  character  proves  to  the  hilt  the 
truth  of  the  rule  that,  with  few  exceptions  in  the 
world's  history,  the  higher  the  development,  the  more  y, 
complex  the  organisation  and  the  more  violent  the  //\ 
clashing  of  the  divers  elements  of  the  man's  nature;—* 
so  that  his  soul  resembles  a  field  of  battle,  and  he 
wears  out  quickly.  Nevertheless,  because  everything 
in  Balzac  seems  contradictory,  when  he  is  likened  by 
one  of  his  friends  to  the  sea,  which  is  one  and  indivis- 
ible, we  perceive  that  the  comparison  is  not  inapt. 
Round  the  edge  are  the  ever-restless  waves;  on  the 
surface  the  foam  blown  by  fitful  gusts  of  wind,  the 
translucent  play  of  sunbeams,  and  the  clamour  of 
storms  lashing  up  the  billows ;  but  down  in  the  sombre 
depths  broods  the  resistless,  immovable  force  which 
tinges  with  its  reflection  the  dancing  and  play  above, 
and  is  the  genius  and  fascination,  the  mystery  and 
tragedy  of  the  sea. 

Below  the  merriment  and  herculean  jollity,  so  little 
represented  in  his  books,  there  was  deep,  gloomy 
force  in  the  soul  of  the  man  who,  gifted  with  an 
almost  unparalleled  imagination,  would  yet  grip  the 
realities  of  the  pathetic  and  terrible  situations  he 
evolved  with  brutal  strength  and  insistence.  The 
mind  of  the  writer  of  "  Le  Pere  Goriot,"  "  La  Cou- 
sine  Bette,"  and  "Le  Cousin  Pons,"  those  terrible 
tragedies  where  the  Greek  god  Fate  marches  on  his 
victims  relentlessly,  and  there  is  no  staying  of  the 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  77. 


8  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

hand  for  pity,  could  not  have  been  merely  a  wide, 
sunny  expanse  with  no  dark  places.  Nevertheless, 
we  are  again  puzzled,  when  we  attempt  to  realise  the 
personality  of  a  man  whose  imagination  could  soar 
to  the  mystical  and  philosophical  conception  of 
"  Seraphita,"  which  is  full  of  religious  poetry,  and 
who  yet  had  the  power  in  "  Cesar  Birotteau  "  to  invest 
prosaic  and  even  sordid  details  with  absolute  veri- 
similitude, or  in  the  "  Contes  Drolatiques "  would 
write,  in  Old  French,  stories  of  Rabelaisian  breadth 
and  humour.  The  only  solution  of  these  contradic- 
tions is  that,  partly  perhaps  by  reason  of  great  phys- 
ical strength,  certainly  because  of  an  abnormally 
powerful  brain  and  imagination,  Balzac's  thoughts, 
feelings,  and  passions  were  unusually  strong,  and  were 
endowed  with  peculiar  impetus  and  independence  of 
each  other;  and  from  this  resulted  a  versatility  which 
caused  most  unexpected  developments,  and  which 
fills  us  of  smaller  mould  with  astonishment. 

Nevertheless,  steadfastness  wras  decidedly  the 
groundwork  of  the  character  of  the  man  who  was 
not  dismayed  by  the  colossal  task  of  the  Comedie 
Humaine;  but  pursued  his  work  through  discourage- 
ment, ill  health,  and  anxieties.  Except  near  the  end 
of  his  life,  when,  owing  to  the  unreasonable  strain  to 
which  it  had  been  subjected,  his  powerful  organism 
had  begun  to  fail,  Balzac  refused  to  neglect  his  voca- 
tion even  for  his  love  affairs — a  self-control  which 
must  have  been  a  severe  test  to  one  of  his  tempera- 
ment. 

This  absorption  in  his  work  cannot  have  been  very 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  9 

flattering  to  the  ladies  he  admired;  and  one  plausible 
explanation  of  Madame  de  Castries'  coldness  to  his 
suit  is  that  she  did  not  believe  in  the  devotion  of  a 
lover  who,  while  paying  her  the  most  assiduous  court 
at  Aix,  would  yet  write  from  five  in  the  morning  till 
half-past  five  in  the  evening,  and  only  bestow  his  com- 
pany on  her  from  six  till  an  early  bedtime.  Even  the 
adored  Madame  Hanska  had  to  take  a  second  place 
where  work  wras  concerned.  When  they  were  both 
at  Vienna  in  1835,  he  writes  with  some  irritation, 
apparently  in  answer  to  a  remonstrance  on  her  part, 
that  he  cannot  work  when  he  knows  he  has  to  go  out ; 
and  that,  owing  to  the  time  he  spent  the  evening  be- 
fore in  her  society,  he  must  now  shut  himself  up  for 
fourteen  hours  and  toil  at  "  Le  Lys  dans  la  Vallee." 
He  adds,  with  his  customary  force  of  language,  that 
if  he  does  not  finish  the  book  at  Vienna,  he  will  throw 
himself  into  the  Danube! 

The  great  psychologist  knew  his  own  character 
well  when,  in  another  letter  to  Madame  Hanska,  who 
has  complained  of  his  frivolity,  he  cries  indignantly: 
"  Frivolity  of  character!  Why,  you  speak  as  a  good 
bourgeois  would  have  done,  who,  seeing  Xapoleon 
turn  to  the  right,  to  the  left,  and  on  all  sides  to  ex- 
amine his  field  of  battle,  would  have  said,  '  This  man 
cannot  remain  in  one  place ;  he  has  no  fixed  idea ! ' : 

This  change  of  posture,  though  consonant,  as  Bal- 
zac says,  with  real  stability,  is  a  source  of  bewilderment 
to  the  reader  of  his  sayings  and  doings,  till  it  dawns 

upon  him  that,  through  pride,  policy,  and  the  usual 

/ 

"  Lettres  a  FEtrang£re." 


10  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

shrinking  of  the  sensitive  from  casting  their  pearls 
before  swine,  Balzac  was  a  confirmed  poseur,  so  that 
what  he  tells  us  is  often  more  misleading  than  his 
silence.  Leon  Gozlan's  books  are  a  striking  instance 
of  the  fact  that,  with  all  Balzac's  jollity,  his  camera- 
derie,  and  his  flow  of  words,  he  did  not  readily  reveal 
himself,  except  to  those  whom  he  could  thoroughly 
trust  to  understand  him.  Gozlan  went  about  with 
Balzac  very  often,  and  was  specially  chosen  by  him 
time  after  time  as  a  companion;  but  he  really  knew 
very  little  of  the  great  man.  If  we  compare  his 
account  of  Balzac's  feeling  or  want  of  feeling  at  a 
certain  crisis,  and  then  read  what  is  written  on  the 
same  subject  to  Madame  Hanska,  Balzac's  enormous 
power  of  reserve,  and  his  habit  of  deliberately  mis- 
leading those  who  were  not  admitted  to  his  confidence, 
may  be  gauged. 

George  Sand  tells  us  an  anecdote  which  shows  how 
easily,  from  his  anxiety  not  to  wear  his  heart  upon  his 
sleeve,  Balzac  might  be  misunderstood.  He  dined 
..with  her  on  January  29th,  1844,  after  a  visit  to  Rus- 
sia, and  related  at  table,  with  peals  of  laughter  and 
apparently  enormous  satisfaction,  an  instance  which 
had  come  under  his  notice  of  the  ferocious  exercise  of 
absolute  power.  Any  stranger  listening  would  have 
thought  him  utterly  heartless  and  brutal,  but  George 
Sand  knew  better.  She  whispered  to  him:  "That 
makes  you  inclined  to  cry,  doesn't  it?"  He  an- 
swered nothing;  left  off  laughing,  as  if  a  spring  in 
him  had  broken;  was  very  serious  for  the  rest  of 

1  "  Autour  de  la  Table,"  by  George  Sand. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  11 

the  evening,  and  did  not  say  a  word  more  about 
Russia. 

Balzac  looked  on  the  world  as  an  arena;  and  as  the- 
occasion  and  the  audience  arose,  he  suited  himself 
with  the  utmost  aplomb  to  the  part  he  intended  to 
play,  so  that  under  the  costume  and  the  paint  the  real 
Balzac  is  often  difficult  to  discover.  Sometimes  he 
would  pretend  to  be  rich  and  prosperous,  when  he 
thought  an  editor  would  thereby  be  induced  to  offer 
him  good  terms;  and  sometimes,  when  it  suited  his 
purpose,  he  would  make  the  most  of  his  poverty  and 
of  his  pecuniary  embarrassments.  Madame  Hanska, 
from  whom  he  required  sympathy,  heard  much  of 
his  desperate  situation  after  the  failure  of  Werdet, 
whom  he  likens  to  the  vulture  that  tormented  Pro- 
metheus ;  but  as  it  would  not  answer  for  £mile  de 
Girardin,  the  editor  of  La  Presse,  to  know  much 
about  Balzac's  pecuniary  difficulties,  Madame  de  Gi- 
rardin is  assured  that  the  report  of  Werdet's  sup- 
posed disaster  is  false,  and  Balzac  virtuously  remarks 
that  in  the  present  century  honesty  is  never  believed 
in.1  Sometimes  his  want  of  candour  appears  to  have 
its  origin  in  his  hatred  to  allow  that  he  is  beaten,  and 
there  is  something  childlike  and  naive  in  his  vanity. 
We  are  amused  when  he  informs  Madame  Hanska 
that  he  is  giving  up  the  Chronique  de  Paris — which 
after  a  brilliant  flourish  of  trumpets  at  the  start,  was 
a  complete  failure — because  the  speeches  in  the 
Chambre  des  Deputes  are  so  silly  that  he  abandons 

1MLa  Genese  d'un   Roman  de   Balzac,"  p.   152,  by  Le  Vicomte  de 
Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


12  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

the  idea  of  taking  up  politics,  as  he  had  intended  to 
do  by  means  of  journalism.  In  a  later  letter,  how- 
ever, he  is  obliged  to  own  that,  though  the  Chronique 
has  been,  of  course,  a  brilliant  success,  money  is  lack- 
ing, owing  to  the  wickedness  of  several  abandoned 
characters,  and  that  therefore  he  has  been  forced  to 
bring  the  publication  to  an  end. 

-*•  Of  one  vanity  he  was  completely  free.  He  did  not 
pose  to  posterity.  Of  his  books  he  thought  much- 
each  one  was  a  masterpiece,  more  glorious  than  the 
last;  but  he  never  imagined  that  people  would  be  in 
the  least  interested  in  his  doings,  and  he  did  not  care 
about  their  opinion  of  him.  Nevertheless  there  was 
occasionally  a  gleam  of  joy,  when  some  one  unex- 
pectedly showed  spontaneous  admiration  for  his  work. 
For  instance,  in  a  Viennese  concert-room,  where  the 
whole  audience  had  risen  to  do  honour  to  the  great 
author,  a  young  man  seized  his  hand  and  put  it  to 
his  lips,  saying,  "  I  kiss  the  hand  that  wrote  '  Sera- 
phita,' "  and  Balzac  said  afterwards  to  his  sister, "  They 
may  deny  my  talent  if  they  choose,  but  the  memory 
of  that  student  will  always  comfort  me." 

His  genius  would,  he  hoped,  be  acknowledged  one 
day  by  all  the  world;  but  there  was  a  singular  and 
lovable  absence  of  self-consciousness  in  his  character, 
and  a  peculiar  humility  and  childlikeness  under  his 
braggadocio  and  apparent  arrogance.  Perhaps  this 
was  the  source  of  the  power  of  fascination  he 
undoubtedly  exercised  over  his  contemporaries. 
Nothing  is  more  noticeable  to  any  one  reading  about 
Balzac  than  the  difference  between  the  tone  of 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  13 

amused  indulgence  with  which  those  who  knew  him 
personally  speak  of  his  peculiarities,  and  the  con- 
temptuous or  horrified  comments  of  people  who  only 
heard  from  others  of  his  extraordinary  doings. 

He  had  bitter  enemies  as  well  as  devoted  friends; 
and  his  fighting  proclivities,  his  objection  to  allow 
that  he  is  ever  in  the  wrong,  and  his  habit  of  blam- 
ing others  for  his  misfortunes,  have  had  a  great  effect 
in  obscuring  our  knowledge  of  Balzac's  life,  as  the 
people  he  abused  were  naturally  exasperated,  and 
took  up  their  pens,  not  to  give  a  fair  account  of  what 
really  happened,  but  to  justify  themselves  against 
Balzac's  aspersions.  Werdet's  book  is  an  instance 
of  this.  Beneath  the  extravagant  admiration  he  ex- 
presses for  the  "  great  writer,"  with  his  "  heart  of 
gold,"  a  glint  can  be  seen  from  time  to  time  of  the 
animus  which  inspired  him  when  he  wrote,  and  we 
feel  that  his  statements  must  be  received  with  caution, 
and  do  not  add  much  to  our  real  knowledge  of  Balzac. 

Nevertheless,  though  there  are  still  blank  spaces 
to  be  filled,  as  well  as  difficulties  to  overcome  and  puz- 
zles to  unravel,  much  fresh  information  has  lately 
been  discovered  about  the  great  writer,  notably  the 
"  Lettres  a  1'Etrangere,"  published  in  1899,  a  col- 
lection of  some  of  the  letters  written  by  Balzac,  from 
1833  to  1848,  to  Madame  Hanska,  the  Polish  lady 
who  afterwards  became  his  wife.  These  letters,  which 
are  the  property  of  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de 
Lovenjoul,  give  many  interesting  details,  and  alter 
the  earlier  view  of  several  points  in  Balzac's  career 
and  character ;  but  the  volume  is  large,  and  takes  some 


14  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

time  to  read.  It  is  therefore  thought  that  as  those 
who  would  seem  competent  by  their  knowledge  and 
skill  to  overcome  the  difficulties  of  writing  a  complete 
and  exhaustive  life  are  silent,  a  short  sketch,  which 
can  claim  nothing  more  than  correctness  of  detail, 
may  not  be  unwelcome.  It  contains  no  attempt  to 
give  what  could  only  be  a  very  inadequate  criticism 
of  the  books  of  the  great  novelist;  for  that,  the  reader 
must  be  referred  to  many  able  works  by  learned 
Frenchmen  who  have  made  a  lifelong  study  of  the 
subject.  It  is  written,  however,  in  the  hope  that  the 
admirers  of  "  Eugenie  Grandet "  and  "  La"  Pere  Go- 
riot"  may  like  to  read  something  of  the  author  of 
these  masterpieces,  and  that  even  those  who  only  know 
the  great  French  novelist  by  reputation  may  be  inter- 
ested to  hear  a  little  about  the  restless  life  of  a  man 
who  was  a  slave  to  his  genius — was  driven  by  its  in- 
sistent voice  to  engage  in  work  which  was  enormously 
difficult  to  him,  to  lead  an  abnormal  and  unhealthy 
life,  and  to  wear  out  his  exuberant  physical  strength 
prematurely.  He  died  with  his  powers  at  their  high- 
est and  his  great  task  unfinished;  and  a  sense  of 
thankfulness  for  his  own  mediocrity  fills  the  reader, 
when  he  reaches  the  end  of  the  life  of  Balzac. 


CHAPTER  II 
* 

Balzac's  appearance,  dress,  and  personality — His  imagi- 
nary world  and  schemes  for  making  money — His 
family,   childhood,   and  school-days 

ACCORDING  to  Theophile  Gautier,  herculean  jollity 
was  the  most  striking  characteristic  of  the  great 
writer,  whose  genius  excels  in  sombre  and  often  sor- 
did tragedy.  George  Sand,  too,  speaks  of  Balzac's 
"serene  soul  with  a  smile  in  it";  and  this  was  the 
more  remarkable,  because  he  lived  at  a  time  when  dis- 
content and  despair  were  considered  the  sign-manual 
of  talent. 

Physically  Balzac  was  far  from  satisfying  a  ro- 
mantic ideal  of  fragile  and  enervated  genius.  Short 
and  stout,  square  of  shoulder,  with  an  abundant  mane 
of  thick  black  hair — a  sign  of  bodily  vigour — his 
whole  person  breathed  intense  vitality.  Deep  red 
lips,  thick,  but  finely  curved,  and  always  ready  to 
laugh,  attested,  like  the  ruddiness  in  his  full  cheeks, 
to  the  purity  and  richness  of  his  blood.  His  forehead, 
high,  broad,  and  unwrinkled,  save  for  a  line  between 
the  eyes,  and  his  neck,  thick,  round,  and  columnar, 
contrasted  in  their  whiteness  with  the  colour  in  the 
rest  of  the  face.  His  hands  were  large  and  dimpled 

15 


16  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

— "beautiful  hands,"  his  sister  calls  them.  He  was 
proud  of  them,  and  had  a  slight  prejudice  against 
any  one  with  ugly  extremities.  His  nose,  about  which 
he  gave  special  directions  to  David  when  his  bust  was 
taken,  was  well  cut,  rather  long,  and  square  at  the 
end,  with  the  lobes  of  the  open  nostrils  standing  out 
prominently.  As  to  his  eyes,  according  to  Gautier, 
there  were  none  like  them. l  They  had  inconceivable 
life,  light,  and  magnetism.  They  were  eyes  to  make 
an  eagle  lower  his  lids,  to  read  through  walls  and 
hearts,  to  terrify  a  wild  beast — eyes  of  a  sovereign, 
a  seer,  a  conqueror.  Lamartine  likens  them  to 
"  darts  dipped  in  kindliness."  Balzac's  sister  speaks 
of  them  as  brown;  but,  according  to  other  contem- 
poraries, they  were  like  brilliant  black  diamonds, 
with  rich  reflections  of  gold,  the  white  of  the  eyeballs 
being  tinged  with  blue.  They  seemed  to  be  lit  with 
the  fire  of  the  genius  within,  to  read  souls,  to  answer 
questions  before  they  were  asked,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  pour  out  warm  rays  of  kindness  from  a  joyous 
heart. 

At  all  points  Balzac's  personality  differed  from 
that  of  his  contemporaries  of  the  Romantic  School — 
those  transcendental  geniuses  of  despairing  temper, 
who  were  utterly  hopeless  about  the  prosaic  world  in 
wThich,  by  some  strange  mistake,  they  found  them- 
selves; and  from  which  they  felt  that  no  possible 
inspiration  for  their  art  could  be  drawn.  So  little 
attuned  were  these  unfortunates  to  their  commonplace 
surroundings  that,  after  picturing  in  their  writings 

1 "  Portraits  Contemparians — Honore  de  Balzac,"  by  Thdophile  Gautier. 


I 
\ 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  17 

either  fiendish  horrors,  or  a  beautiful,  impossible 
atmosphere,  peopled  by  beings  out  of  whom  all  like- 
ness to  humanity  had  been  eliminated,  they  had 
infrequently  lost  their  mental  balance  altogether,  or 
hurried  by  their  own  act  out  of  a  dull  world  which 
could  never  satisfy  their  lively  imaginations.  Balzac, 
on  the  other  hand,  loved  the  world.  How,  with  the 
acute  powers  of  observation,  and  the  intuition  amount- 
ing almost  to  second  sight,  with  which  he  was  gifted, 
could  he  help  doing  so?  The  man  who  could  at  will 
quit  his  own  personality,  and  invest  himself  with  that 
of  another;  who  would  follow  a  workman  and  his 
wife  on  their  way  home  at  night  from  a  music-hall, 
and  listen  to  their  discussions  on  domestic  matters  till 
he  imbibed  their  life,  felt  their  ragged  clothing  on  his 
back,  and  their  desires  and  wants  in  his  soul — how 
could  he  find  life  dull,  or  the  most  commonplace  indi- 
vidual uninteresting? 

In  dress  Balzac  was  habitually  careless.  He  would 
rush  to  the  printer's  office,  after  twelve  hours  of  hard 
work,  with  his  hat  drawn  over  his  eyes,  his  hands, 
thrust  into  shabby  gloves,  and  his  feet  in  shoes  with 
high  sides,  worn  over  loose  trousers,  which  were 
pleated  at  the  waist  and  held  down  with  straps.  Even 
in  society  he  took  no  trouble  about  his  appearance, 
and  Lamartine  describes  him  as  looking,  in  the  salon 
of  Madame  de  Girardin,  like  a  schoolboy  who  has 
outgrown  his  clothes.  Only  for  a  short  time,  which 
he  describes  with  glee  in  his  letters  to  Madame 
Hanska,  did  he  pose  as  a  man  of  fashion.  Then  he 
wore  a  magnificent  white  waistcoat,  and  a  blue  coat 


18  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

with  gold  buttons;  carried  the  famous  cane,  with  a 
knob  studded  with  turquoises,  celebrated  in  Madame 
de  Girardin's  story,  "  La  Canne  de  Monsieur  de  Bal- 
zac " ;  and  drove  in  a  tilbury,  behind  a  high-stepping 
horse,  with  a  tiny  tiger,  whom  he  christened  Anchise, 
perched  on  the  back  seat.  This  phase  was  quickly 
over,  the  horses  were  sold,  and  Balzac  appeared 
no  more  in  the  box  reserved  for  dandies  at  the 
Opera. 

Of  the  fashionable  outfit,  the  only  property  left  was 
the  microscopic  groom — an  orphan,  of  whom  Balzac 
took  the  greatest  care,  and  whom  he  visited  daily  dur- 
ing the  boy's  last  illness,  a  year  or  two  after.  Thence- 
forward he  reverted  to  his  usual  indifference  about 
appearances,  his  only  vanity  being  the  spotless  clean- 
liness of  his  working  costume — a  loose  dressing-gown 
of  white  flannel  or  cashmere,  made  like  the  habit  of 
a  Benedictine  monk,  which  was  kept  in  round  the 
waist  by  a  silk  girdle,  and  was  always  scrupulously 
guarded  from  ink-stains. 

Naive  as  a  child,  anxious  for  sympathy,  frankly 
delighted  with  his  own  masterpieces,  yet  modest  in 
a  fashion  peculiar  to  himself,  Balzac  gave  a  domi- 
nant impression  of  kindliness  and  bonhomie,  which 
overshadowed  even  the  idea  of  intellect.  To  his 
friends  he  is  not  in  the  first  place  the  author  of  the 
"  Comedie  Humaine,"  Designed,  as  George  Sand 
rather  grandiloquently  puts  it,  to  be  "  an  almost  uni- 
versal examination  of  the  ideas,  sentiments,  customs, 
habits,  legislation,  arts,  trades,  costumes,  localities — 
in  short,  of  all  that  constitutes  the  lives  of  his  con- 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  19 

temporaries  "  —that  claim  to  notice  recedes  into  the 
background,  and  what  is  seen  clearly  is  the  bon  cama- 
rade,  with  his  great  hearty  laugh,  his  jollity,  his  flow 
of  language,  and  his  jokes,  often  Rabelaisian  in 
flavour.  Of  course  there  was  another  side  to  the 
picture,  and  there  were  times  in  his  hardset  and 
harassing  life  when  even  his  vivacity  failed  him. 
These  moods  were,  however,  never  apparent  in  so- 
ciety; and  even  to  his  intimate  men  friends,  such  as 
Theophile  Gautier  and  Leon  Gozlan,  Balzac  was 
always  the  delightful,  whimsical  companion,  to  be 
thought  of  and  written  of  afterwards  with  an  amused, 
though  affectionate  smile.  Only  to  women,  his  prin- 
cipal confidantes,  who  played  as  important  a  part 
in  his  life  as  they  do  in  his  books,  did  he  occasionally 
show  the  discouragement  to  which  the  artistic  nature 
is  prone.  Sometimes  the  state  of  the  weather,  which 
always  had  a  great  effect  on  him,  the  difficulty  of  his 
work,  the  fatigue  of  sitting  up  all  night,  and  his 
monetary  embarrassments,  brought  him  to  an  ex- 
treme state  of  depression,  both  physical  and  mental. 
He  would  arrive  at  the  house  of  Madame  Surville, 
his  sister,  who  tells  the  story,  hardly  able  to  drag  him- 
self along,  in  a  gloomy,  dejected  state,  with  his  skiri 
sallow  and  jaundiced. 

"  Don't  console  me,"  he  would  say  in  a  faint  voice, 
dropping  into  a  chair;  "it  is  useless — I  am  a  dead 
man." 

The  dead  man  would  then  begin,  in  a  doleful  voice, 
to  tell  of  his  new  troubles;  but  he  soon  revived,  and 

1 "  Autour  de  la  Table,"  by  George  Sand. 


20  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

the  words  came  forth  in  the  most  ringing  tones  of  his 
voice.  Then,  opening  his  proofs,  he  would  drop  back 
into  his  dismal  accents  and  say,  by  way  of  conclu- 
sion: 

'  Yes,  I  am  a  wrecked  man,  sister! " 

"  Nonsense !  No  man  is  wrecked  with  such  proofs 
as  those  to  correct." 

Then  he  would  raise  his  head,  his  face  would  un- 
pucker  little  by  little,  the  sallow  tones  of  his  skin 
would  disappear. 

" My  God,  you  are  right! "  he  would  say.  "  Those 
books  will  make  me  live.  Besides,  blind  Fortune  is 
here,  isn't  she?  Why  shouldn't  she  protect  a  Balzac 
as  well  as  a  ninny?  And  there  are  always  ways  of 
wooing  her.  Suppose  one  of  my  millionaire  friends 
(and  I  have  some),  or  a  banker,  not  knowing  what 
to  do  with  his  money,  should  come  to  me  and  say, 
' 1  know  your  immense  talents,  and  your  anxieties : 
you  want  such-and-such  a  sum  to  free  yourself;  ac- 
cept it  fearlessly ;  you  will  pay  me ;  your  pen  is  worth 
millions ! '  That  is  all  I  want,  my  dear."  J 

Then  the  "  child-man,"  as  his  sister  calls  him,  would 
imagine  himself  a  member  of  the  Institute;  then  in 
the  Chamber  of  Peers,  pointing  out  and  reforming 
abuses,  and  governing  a  highly  prosperous  country. 
Finally,  he  would  end  the  interview  with,  "  Adieu ! 
I  am  going  home  to  see  if  my  banker  is  waiting  for 
me";  and  would  depart,  quite  consoled,  with  his 
usual  hearty  laugh. 

1 "  Balzac,   sa   Vie  et   ses    CEuvres,   d'apr&s   la    Correspondance,"    by 
Mme.  L.  Surville  (nte  de  Balzac). 


21 

He  lived,  his  sister  tells  us,  to  a  great  extent  in 
a  world  of  his  own,  peopled  by  the  imaginary  char- 
acters in  his  books,  and  he  would  gravely  discuss 
its  news,  as  others  do  that  of  the  real  world.  Some- 
times he  was  delighted  with  the  grand  match  he  had 
planned  for  his  hero;  but  often  affairs  did  not  go  so 
well,  and  perhaps  it  would  give  him  much  anxious 
thought  to  marry  his  heroine  suitably,  as  it  was  neces- 
sary to  find  her  a  husband  in  her  own  set,  and  this 
might  be  difficult  to  arrange.  When  asked  about  the 
past  of  one  of  his  creations,  he  replied  gravely  that 
he  "  had  not  been  acquainted  with  Monsieur  de  Jordy 
before  he  came  to  Nemours,"  but  added  that,  if  his 
questioner  were  anxious  to  know,  he  would  try  to 
find  out.  He  had  many  fancies  about  names,  de- 
claring that  those  which  are  invented  do  not  give  life 
to  imaginary  beings,  whereas  those  really  borne  by 
some  one  endow  them  with  vitality.  Leon  Gozlan 
says  that  he  was  dragged  by  Balzac  half  over  Paris 
in  search  of  a  suitable  name  for  the  hero  of  a  story 
to  be  published  in  the  Revue  Parisienne.  After  they 
had  trudged  through  scores  of  streets  in  vain,  Balzac, 
to  his  intense  joy,  discovered  "  Marcas  "  over  a  small 
tailor's  shop,  to  which  he  added,  as  "  a  flame,  a  plume, 
a  star,"  the  initial  Z.  Z.  Marcas  conveyed  to  him  the 
idea  of  a  great,  though  unknown,  philosopher,  poet, 
or  silversmith,  like  Benvenuto  Cellini;  he  went  no 
farther,  he  was  satisfied — he  had  found  "  t he  name  of 
names."  l 

Many  are  the  amusing  anecdotes  told  of  Balzac's 

1 "  Balzac  en  Pantoufles,"  by  Leon  Gozlan. 


22  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

schemes  for  becoming  rich.  Money  he  struggled  for 
unceasingly,  not  from  sordid  motives,  but  because  it 
was  necessary  to  his  conception  of  a  happy  life. 
Without  its  help  he  could  never  be  freed  from  his 
burden  of  debt,  and  united  to  the  grande  dame  of  his 
fancy,  who  must  of  necessity  be  posed  in  elegant 
toilette,  on  a  suitable  background  of  costly  brocades 
and  objects  of  art.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  all  his 
efforts,  and  of  a  capacity  and  passion  for  work  which 
seemed  almost  superhuman,  he  never  obtained  free- 
dom from  monetary  anxiety.  Viewed  in  this  light, 
there  is  pathos  in  his  many  impossible  plans  for  mak- 
ing his  fortune,  and  freeing  himself  from  the  strain 
which  was  slowly  killing  him. 

Some  of  his  projected  enterprises  were  wildly  fan- 
tastic, and  prove  that  the  great  author  was,  like  many 
a  genius,  a  child  at  heart;  and  that,  in  his  eyes,  the 
world  was  not  the  prosaic  place  it  is  to  most  men  and 
women,  but  an  enchanted  globe,  like  the  world  of 
'  Treasure  Island,"  teeming  with  the  possibility  of 
strange  adventure.  At  one  time  he  hoped  to  gain  a 
substantial  income  by  growing  pineapples  in  the  little 
garden  at  Les  Jardies,  and  later  on  he  thought  money 
might  be  made  by  transporting  oaks  from  Poland  to 
France.  For  some  months  he  believed  that,  by  means 
of  magnetism  exercised  on  somnambulists,  he  had 
discovered  the  exact  spot  at  Pointe  a  Pitre  where  Tous- 
saint-L'Ouverture  hid  his  treasure,  and  afterwards 
shot  the  negroes  he  had  employed  to  bury  it,  lest  they 
should  betray  its  hiding-place.  Jules  Sandeau  and 
Theophile  Gautier  were  chosen  to  assist  in  the  enter- 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  23 

prise  of  carrying  off  the  hidden  gold,  and  were  each 
to  receive  a  quarter  of  the  treasure,  Balzac,  as  the 
leader  of  the  venture,  taking  the  other  half.  The 
three  friends  were  to  start  secretly  and  separately 
with  spades  and  shovels,  and,  their  work  accomplished, 
were  to  put  the  treasure  on  a  brig  which  was  to  be  in 
waiting,  and  were  to  return  as  millionaires  to  France. 
This  brilliant  plan  failed,  because  none  of  the  three 
adventurers  had  at  the  moment  money  to  pay  his 
passage  out ;  and  no  doubt,  by  the  time  that  the  neces- 
sary funds  were  forthcoming,  Balzac's  fertile  brain 
was  engaged  on  other  enterprises. 1 

The  foundation  of  his  pecuniary  misfortunes  was 
laid  before  his  birth,  when  his  father,  forty-five  years 
old  and  unmarried,  sank  the  bulk  of  his  fortune  in 
life  annuities,  so  that  his  son  was  in  the  unfortunate 
position  of  starting  life  in  very  comfortable  circum- 
stances, and  of  finding  himself  in  want  of  money  just 
when  he  most  needed  it. 

Balzac's  father  was  born  in  Languedoc  in  1746, 
and  we  are  told  by  his  son  that  he  had  been  Secre- 
tary, and  by  Madame  Surville,  Advocate,  of  the 
Council  under  Louis  XVI.  Both  these  statements, 
however,  appear  to  be  incorrect,  and  may  be  considered 
to  have  been  harmless  fictions  on  the  part  of  the  old 
gentleman,  as  no  record  of  his  name  can  be  found  in 
the  Royal  Calendar,  which  was  very  carefully  kept. 
Almanacs  are  awkward  things,  and  his  name  is  men- 
tioned in  the  National  Calendar  of  1793  as  a  "law- 
yer" and  "member  of  the  general  council  for  the 

1 "  Portraits  Contemporians — Honore  de  Balzac,"  by  TWophile  Gautier. 


24  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

section  of  the  rights  of  man  in  the  Commune."  But 
he  evidently  preferred  to  draw  a  veil  over  his  revolu- 
tionary experiences,  and  it  seems  rather  hard  that, 
because  he  happened  to  possess  a  celebrated  son,  his 
little  secrets  should  be  exposed  to  the  light  of  day. 
Later  on  he  became  an  ardent  Royalist,  and  in  1814 
he  joined  with  Bertrand  de  Molleville  to  draw  up  a 
memoir  against  the  Charter,  which  Balzac  says  was 
dictated  to  him,  then  a  boy  of  fifteen;  and  he  also 
mentions  that  he  remembers  hearing  M.  de  Molleville 
cry  out,  "  The  Constitution  ruined  Louis  XVI.,  and 
the  Charter  will  kill  the  Bourbons!"  "No  com- 
promise" formed  an  essential  part  of  the  creed  of 
the  Royalists  at  the  Restoration. 

When  M.  de  Balzac1  married,  in  1797,  he  was  in 

charge  of  the  Commissariat  of  the  Twenty-second 

Military  Division;   and  in  1798  he  came  to  live  in 

Tours,  where  he  had  bought  a  house  and  some  land 

near  the  town,  and  where  he  remained  for  nineteen 

^years.     Here,  on  May  16th,  1799,  St.  Honore's  day, 

<his  son,  the  celebrated  novelist,  was  born,  and  was 

(  christened  Honore  after  the  saint. 

Old  M.  de  Balzac  was  in  his  own  way  literary,  and 
had  written  two  or  three  pamphlets,  one  on  his  favour- 
ite subject — that  of  health.  He  seems  to  have  been  a 
man  of  much  orginality,  many  peculiarities,  and 
much  kindness  of  heart.  He  was  evidently  impulsive, 
like  his  celebrated  son,  and  he  certainly  made  a  cul- 
pable mistake,  and  a  cruel  one  for  his  family,  when  he 

1 "  The  Balzac  family  will  be  accorded  the  "  de "  in  this  account  of 
them. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  25 

rashly  concluded  that  he  should  always  remain  a 
bachelor,  and  arranged  that  his  income  should  die  with 
him.  He  afterwards  hoped  to  repair  the  wrong  he 
had  thus  done  to  his  children,  by  outliving  the  other 
shareholders  and  obtaining  a  part  of  the  immense 
capital  of  the  Tontine.  Fortunately  for  himself  he 
possessed  extraordinary  optimism,  and  power  of  ex- 
cluding from  his  mind  the  possibility  of  all  unpleasant 
contingencies — qualities  which  he  handed  on  in  full 
measure  to  Honore.  He  therefore  kept  himself 
happy  in  the  monetary  disappointments  of  his  later 
life,  by  thinking  and  talking  of  the  millions  his  chil- 
dren would  inherit  from  their  centenarian  father.  For 
their  sakes  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  take  care 
of  his  health,  and  he  considered  that,  by  maintaining 
the  "equilibrium  of  the  vital  forces,"  there  was 
absolutely  no  doubt  that  he  would  live  for  a  hundred 
years  or  more.  Therefore  he  followed  a  strict  regimen, 
and  gave  himself  an  infinite  amount  of  trouble,  as  well 
as  amusement,  by  his  minute  arrangements. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  truth  of  his  theories 
could  never  be  tested,  as  he  died  in  1829,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-three,  from  the  effects  of  an  operation;  and 
Madame  de  Balzac  and  her  family  wrere  left  to  face 
the  stern  facts  of  life,  denuded  of  the  rose-coloured 
haze  in  which  they  had  been  clothed  by  the  kindly  old 
enthusiast.  Balzac's  mother  certainly  had  a  hard  life, 
and  from  what  we  hear  of  her  nervous,  excitable  na- 
ture— inherited  apparently  from  her  mother,  Madame 
Sallambier — we  can  hardly  be  astonished  when  Balzac 
writes  to  Madame  Hanska,  in  1835,  that  if  her  mis- 


26  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

fortunes  do  not  kill  her,  it  is  feared  they  will  destroy 
her  reason.  Nevertheless,  she  outlived  her  celebrated 
son,  and  is  mentioned  by  Victor  Hugo,  when  he 
visited  Balzac's  deathbed,  as  the  only  person  in  the 
room,  except  a  nurse  and  a  servant. l 

She  was  many  years  younger  than  her  husband— 
a  beauty  and  an  heiress;  and  she  evidently  had  her 
own  way  with  the  easy-going  old  M.  de  Balzac,  and 
was  the  moving  spirit  in  the  household:  so  that  the 
ease  and  absence  of  friction  in  her  early  life  must 
have  made  her  subsequent  troubles  and  humiliations 
especially  galling.  Besides  Honore,  she  had  three 
children:  Laure,  afterwards  Madame  Surville; 
Laurence,  who  died  young;  and  Henry,  the  black 
sheep  of  the  family,  who  returned  from  the  colonies, 
after  having  made  an  unsatisfactory  marriage,  and 
who,  during  the  last  years  of  Honore  de  Balzac's 
life,  required  constant  monetary  help  from  his  rela- 
tions. 

Her  two  younger  children  were  Madame  de  Bal- 
zac's favourites,  and  they  and  their  aifairs  gave  her 
constant  trouble.  In  1822  Laurence  married  a  M. 
Saint-Pierre  de  Montzaigle,  apparently  a  good  deal 
older  than  herself;  and  Honore  gives  a  very  couleur 
de  rose  account  of  his  future  brother-in-law's  family, 
in  a  letter  written  at  the  time  of  the  engage- 
ment to  Laure,  who  was  already  married.  He  does 
not  seem  so  charmed  with  the  bridegroom,  il  trouba- 
dour o,  as  with  his  surroundings,  and  remarks  that 
he  has  lost  his  top  teeth,  and  is  very  conceited,  but 

1 "  Choses  Vues,"  by  Victor  Hugo. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  27 

will  do  well  enough — as  a  husband.  Every  one  is 
delighted  at  the  marriage;  but  Laure  can  imagine 
mamans  state  of  nervous  excitement  from  her 
recollection  of  the  last  few  days  before  her  own 
wedding,  and  can  fancy  that  he  and  Laurence  are 
not  enjoying  themselves.  "  Nature  surrounds  roses 
with  thorns,  and  pleasures  with  a  crowd  of  troubles. 
Mamma  follows  the  example  of  nature."  1 

Laurence's  death,  in  1826,  must  have  been  a  ter- 
rible grief  to  the  poor  mother ;  but  she  may  have  real- 
ised later  on  that  her  daughter  had  escaped  much 
trouble,  as  in  1836  the  Balzac  family  threatened  M. 
de  Montzaigle  with  a  lawsuit  on  the  subject  of  his 
son,  who  was  left  to  wander  about  Paris  without 
food,  shoes,  or  clothes.  We  cannot  suppose  that 
any  one  with  such  sketchy  views  of  the  duties  of  a 
father  could  have  been  a  particularly  satisfactory 
husband;  but  perhaps  Laurence  died  before  she  had 
time  to  discover  M.  de  Montzaigle's  deficiencies. 

Henry,  the  younger  son,  appears  to  have  been 
brought  up  on  a  different  method  from  that  pur- 
sued with  Honore,  as  we  hear  in  1821  that  Madame 
de  Balzac  considered  that  the  boy  was  unhappy  and 
bored  with  school,  that  he  was  with  canting  people 
who  punished  him  for  nothing,  and  must  be  taken 
away.  Evidently  the  younger  son  was  the  mother's 
darling;  but  her  mode  of  bringing  him  up  was  not 
happy  in  its  effects,  as  he  seems  to  have  given  con- 
tinual anxiety  and  trouble.  He  came  back  from  the 
colonies  with  his  wife;  and  by  threatening  to  blow 

1M  H.  de  Balzac — Correspondence,"  vol.  i.  p.  41. 


28  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

out  his  brains,  he  worked  on  his  mother's  feelings, 
and  induced  her  to  help  him  with  money,  and  nearly 
to  ruin  herself.  In  consequence  she  was  obliged  for 
a  time  to  take  up  her  abode  with  Honore,  an 
arrangement  which  did  not  work  well.  Even  when 
Henry  was  at  last  shipped  off  to  the  Indies,  he 
continued  to  agitate  his  family  by  sending  them 
pathetic  accounts  of  his  distress  and  necessities,  and 
these  letters  from  her  much-loved  son  must  have 
been  peculiarly  painful  to  Madame  de  Balzac. 

Honore  and  his  mother  seem  never  to  have  un- 
derstood each  other  very  well;  and  she  was  stern 
with  him  and  Laure  in  their  youth,  while  she  lavished 
caresses  on  her  younger  children.  Likeness  to  a 
father  is  not  always  a  passport  to  a  mother's  favour, 
and  Madame  de  Balzac  does  not  appear  to  have  real- 
ised her  son's  genius,  and  evidently  feared  that, 
without  due  repression  in  youth,  the  paternal  type 
of  imaginative  optimist  would  be  repeated. 

She  was  not  a  tender  mother  in  childhood,  when 
indeed  she  saw  little  of  Honore,  as  she  left  him  out 
at  nurse  till  he  was  four  years  old,  and  sent  him  to 
school  when  he  was  eight;  but  later  on  in  all  prac- 
tical matters  she  did  her  best  for  him,  lending  him 
money  when  he  was  in  difficulties,  and  looking  after 
his  business  affairs  when  he  was  away  from  Paris. 
She  was  evidently  easily  offended,  and  rather  ab- 
surdly tenacious  of  her  maternal  dignity;  so  that 
sometimes  the  deference  and  submission  of  the  great 
writer  are  surprising  and  rather  touching.  On  the 
other  hand  it  must  be  remembered  that  Honore  made 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  29 

great  demands  on  his  friends,  that  they  were  expected 
to  accord  continual  sympathy  and  admiration,  to  be 
perfectly  tactful  in  their  criticisms,  and  were  only 
very  occasionally  allowed  to  give  advice.  Therefore 
his  opinion  of  his  mother's  coldness  may  have  sprung 
from  her  failure  to  answer  to  the  requirements  of  his 
peculiar  code  of  affection,  and  not  from  any  real  want 
of  love  on  her  part. 

Certainly  her  severity  in  his  youth  had  the  effect  of 
concentrating  the  whole  devotion  of  Honore's  childish 
heart  on  Laure,  the  cara  sorella  of  his  later  years. 
She  was  a  writer,  the  author  of  "  Le  Compagnon  du 
Foyer."  To  her  we  owe  a  charming  sketch  of  her 
celebrated  brother,  and  she  was  the  confidante  of  his 
hopes,  ambitions,  and  troubles,  of  his  sentimental 
friendships,  and  of  the  faults  and  embarrassments 
wrhich  he  confided  to  no  one  else.  Expressions  of  affec- 
tion for  her  occur  constantly  in  his  letters,  and  in 
1837  he  writes  to  Madame  Hanska  that  Laure  is  ill, 
and  therefore  the  whole  universe  seems  out  of  gear, 
and  that  he  passes  whole  nights  in  despair  because  she 
is  everything  to  him.  The  friendship  between  the 
brother  and  sister  was  deep,  devoted,  and  faithful,  as 
Balzac's  friendships  generally  were — he  did  not  care, 
as  he  said  in  one  of  his  letters,  for  amities  d'epiderme 
—and  the  restriction  put  on  his  intercourse  with  his 
sister  by  the  jealousy  of  M.  Surville  was  one  of  the 
many  troubles  which  darkened  his  later  years. 

Occasionally,  indeed,  there  were  disagreements  be- 
tween the  brother  and  sister,  when  Honore  did  not  ap- 
prove of  Laure's  aspirations  for  authorship.  The  only 


30  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

subject  which  really  caused  coldness  on  both  sides, 
however — and  this  was  temporary — was  Laure's  want 
of  sympathy  for  Balzac's  attachment  to  Madame 
Hanska;  because  she,  like  many  of  his  friends,  felt 
doubtful  whether  his  passionate  love  was  returned  in 
anything  like  an  equal  measure.  Perhaps,  too,  there 
may  have  lurked  in  the  sister's  mind  a  slight  jealousy 
of  this  alien  grande  dame>  who  had  stolen  away  her 
brother's  heart  from  France,  who  moved  in  a  sphere 
quite  unlike  that  of  the  Balzac  family,  and  whose  ex- 
istence prevented  several  advantageous  and  sensible 
marriages  which  she  could  have  arranged  for  Honore. 
Balzac,  it  must  be  allowed,  was  not  -always  tactful  in 
his  descriptions  of  the  perfections  of  the  Hanska  fam- 
ily, who  were,  of  course,  in  his  eyes,  surrounded  with 
aureoles  borrowed  from  the  light  of  his  "  polar  star." 
It  must  have  been  distinctly  annoying,  when  the  vir- 
tues, talents,  and  charms  of  the  young  Countess  Anna 
were  held  up  as  an  object  lesson  for  Madame  Sur- 
ville's  two  daughters,  who  were  no  doubt,  from  their 
mother's  point  of  view,  quite  as  admirable  as  Madame 
Hanska's  ewe  lamb.  Nevertheless,  there  was  never 
any  real  separation  between  the  brother  and  sister; 
and  it  is  to  Laure  that — certain  of  her  participation 
in  his  joy — poor  Balzac  penned  his  delighted  letter 
the  day  after  his  wedding,  signed  "  Thy  brother 
Honore,  at  the  summit  of  happiness." 

Laure's  own  career  was  chequered.  In  1820  she 
married  an  engineer,  M.  Midy  de  la  Greneraye  Sur- 
ville,  and  from  the  first  the  marriage  was  not  very 
happy,  as  Honore  writes,  a  month  after  it  took  place, 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  31 

to  blame  Laure  for  her  melancholy  at  the  separation 
from  her  family,  and  to  counsel  philosophy  and  piano 
practice.  Possibly  Balzac's  habits  of  ascendency  over 
those  he  loved,  and  his  wonderful  gift  of  fascina- 
tion— a  gift  which  often  provides  its  possessor  with 
bitter  enemies  among  those  outside  its  influence — 
made  matters  difficult  for  his  brother-in-law,  and  did 
not  tend  to  promote  harmony  between  Laure  and  her 
husband.  M.  Surville  probably  became  exasperated 
by  useless  attempts  to  vie  in  his  wife's  eyes  with  her 
much-beloved  brother — at  any  rate,  in  later  years  he 
was  tyrannical  in  preventing  their  intercourse,  and  we 
hear  of  the  unfortunate  Laure  coming  in  secret  to  see 
Balzac,  on  her  birthday  in  1836,  and  holding  a  watch 
in  her  hand,  because  she  did  not  dare  to  stay  away 
longer  than  twenty  minutes.  There  were  other  wor- 
ries for  Laure  and  her  husband,  for,  like  the  rest  of 
the  Balzac  family,  they  were  in  continual  difficulty 
about  money  matters.  M.  Surville  seems  to  have 
been  a  man  of  enterprise,  and  to  have  had  many 
schemes  on  hand — such  as  making  a  lateral  canal  on 
the  Loire  from  Nantes  to  Orleans,  building  a  bridge 
in  Paris,  or  constructing  a  little  railway.  Speaking 
of  the  canal,  Balzac  cheerfully  and  airily  remarked 
in  1836  that  only  a  capital  of  twenty-six  millions  of 
francs  required  collecting,  and  then  the  Survilles 
would  be  on  the  high  road  to  prosperity.  This  trifling 
matter  was  not  after  all  arranged,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  fact  that  in  1849  the  Survilles  moved  to  a 
cheap  lodging,  and  were  advised  by  Balzac,  in  a  let- 
ter from  Russia,  to  follow  his  habit  of  former  days, 


32  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

and  to  cook  only  twice  a  week.  In  fact,  they  were 
evidently  passing  through  one  of  those  monetary  crises 
to  which  we  become  used  when  reading  the  annals 
of  the  Balzacs,  and  which  irresistibly  remind  the  reader 
of  similar  affairs  in  the  Micawber  family. 

In  spite  of  the  friction  on  the  subject  of  Madame 
Surville,  there  was  never  apparently  any  actual  breach 
between  Honore  and  his  brother-in-law;  indeed,  he 
speaks  several  times  of  working  amicably  with  M.  Sur- 
ville, in  a  vain  attempt  to  put  in  order  the  hopelessly 
involved  web  of  family  affairs.  He  evidently  had 
great  faith  in  his  brother-in-law's  plans  for  making 
his  fortune,  and  took  the  keenest  interest  in  them, 
even  offering  to  go  over  to  London,  to  sell  an  inven- 
tion for  effecting  economy  in  the  construction  of 
inclined  planes  on  railways.  But  M.  Surville  changed 
his  mind  at  the  last,  and  Balzac  never  went  to  Eng- 
land after  all. 

Honore  and  Laure  were  together  during  the  time 
of  their  earliest  childhood,  as  they  were  left  at  the  cot- 
tage of  the  same  foster-mother,  and  did  not  come 
home  till  Honore  was  four  years  old.  His  sister  says, 
"  My  recollections  of  his  tenderness  date  far  back.  I 
have  not  forgotten  the  headlong  rapidity  with  which 
he  ran  to  save  me  from  tumbling  down  the  three  high 
steps  without  a  railing,  which  led  from  our  nurse's 
room  to  the  garden.  His  loving  protection  continued 
after  we  returned  to  our  father's  house,  where,  more 
than  once,  he  allowed  himself  to  be  punished  for  my 
faults,  without  betraying  me.  Once,  when  I  came 
upon  the  scene  in  time  to  accuse  myself  of  the  wrong, 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  33 

he  said,  'Don't  acknowledge  next  time — I  like  to  be 
punished  for  you.' ' 

Both  children  were  in  great  awe  of  their  parents,  j 
and  Honore's  fear  of  his  mother  was  extreme.  Years  / 
after,  he  told  a  friend  that  he  was  never  able  to  hear 
her  voice  without  a  trembling  which  deprived  him  of 
his  faculties.  Their  father  treated  them  with  uni- 
form kindness,  but  Honore's  heart  was  filled  with 
love  for  his  kind  grandparents,  to  whom  he  paid  a 
visit  in  Paris  in  1804.  He  came  back  to  Tours  with 
wonderful  stories  of  the  beauties  of  their  house,  their 
garden,  and  their  big  dog  Mouche,  with  whom  he  had 
made  great  friends.  The  news  of  his  grandfather's 
death  a  few  months  later  was  a  great  grief  to  him, 
and  made  a  deep  impression  on  his  childish  mind.  His 
sister  tells  us  that  long  afterwards,  when  the  two  were 
receiving  a  reprimand  from  their  mother,  and  he  saw 
Laure  unable  to  control  a  wild  burst  of  laughter, 
which  he  knew  would  lead  to  serious  consequences,  he 
tried  to  stop  her  by  whispering  in  tragic  tones,  "  Think 
about  your  grandfather's  death.! " 

He  was  a  child  of  very  deep  affections  and  warmth 
of  heart,  but  he  did  not  show  any  special  intelligence.  f 
He  was  lively,  merry,  and  extremely  talkative,  but 
sometimes  a  silent  mood  would  fall  on  him,  and  per- 
haps, as  his  sister  says,  his  imagination  was  then  car- 
rying him  to  distant  worlds,  though  the  family  only 
thought  the  chatterbox  was  tired.  In  all  ways,  how- 
ever, he  was  in  these  days  a  very  ordinary  child,  de- 

1 "  Balzac,   sa   Vie   et   ses   CEuvres,   d'apres    sa   Correspondance,"    by 
Madame  L.  Surville  (n4e  de  Balzac). 


34  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

voted  to  fairy  stories,  fond  of  the  popular  nursery 
amusement  of  making  up  plays,  and  charmed  with  the 
excruciating  noise  he  brought  out  of  a  little  red  violin. 
This  he  would  sometimes  play  on  for  hours,  till  even 
the  faithful  Laure  would  remonstrate,  and  he  would 
be  astonished  that  she  did  not  realise  the  beauty  of 
his  music. 

This  happy  childish  life,  chastened  only  by  the 
tremors  which  both  children  felt  when  taken  by  their 
governess  in  the  morning  and  at  bedtime  into  the 
stern  presence  of  their  mother,  did  not  last  very  long 
for  Honore.  When  he  was  eight  years  old  (his  sis- 
ter says  seven,  but  this  seems  to  be  a  mistake),  there 
was  a  sudden  change  in  his  life,  as  the  home  authori- 
ties decided  that  it  was  time  his  education  should  begin 
in  good  earnest.  He  was  therefore  taken  from  the 
day  school  at  Tours,  and  sent  to  the  semi-military  col- 
lege founded  by  the  Oratorians  in  the  sleepy  little 
town  of  Vendome.  On  page  7  of  the  school  record 
there  is  the  following  notice:  "No.  460.  Honore 
Balzac,  age  de  huit  ans  un  mois.  A  eu  la  petite 
verole,  sans  infirmites.  Caractere  sanguin,  s'echauf- 
fant  facilement,  et  sujet  a  quelques  fievres  de  chaleur. 
Entre  au  pensionnat  le  22  juin,  1807.  Sorti,  le  22 
aout,  1813.  S'adresser  a  M.  Balzac,  son  pere,  a 
Tours."  1  Thus  is  summed  up  the  character  of  the 
future  writer  of  the  "  Comedie  Humaine,"  and  there 
is  apparently  nothing  remarkable  or  precocious  about 
the  boy,  as  his  quick  temper  is  his  most  salient  point 
in  the  eyes  of  his  masters.  It  will  be  noticed,  too,  that 

1 "  Balzac  au  College,"  by  Champfleury. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  35 

the  "de,"  about  which  Balzac  was  very  particular, 
and  which  was  the  occasion  of  many  scoffing  remarks 
on  the  part  of  his  enemies,  does  not  appear  on  this 
register. 

Honore  was  a  small  boy  to  have  been  completely 
separated  from  home,  and  the  whole  scheme  of  edu- 
cation as  devised  by  the  Oratorian  fathers  appears  to 
have  been  a  strange  one.  One  of  the  rules  forbade 
outside  holidays,  and  Honore  never  left  the  college 
once  during  the  six  years  he  was  at  school;  so  that 
there  was  no  supervision  from  his  parents,  and  no 
chance  of  complaint  if  he  were  unhappy  or  ill  treated. 
His  family  came  to  see  him  at  Easter  and  also  at  the 
prize-givings ;  but  on  these  occasions,  to  which  he 
looked  forward,  his  sister  tells  us,  with  eager  delight, 
reproaches  were  generally  his  portion,  on  account  of 
of  his  want  of  success  in  school  work.  In  "Louis 
Lambert "  he  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  col- 
lege, which  was  in  the  middle  of  the  town  on  the  little 
river  Loir,  and  contained  a  chapel,  theatre,  infirmary, 
bakery,  and  gardens.  There  were  two  or  three  hun- 
dred pupils,  divided  according  to  their  ages  or  attain- 
ments into  four  classes — les  grands,  les  moyens,  les 
petits,  and  les  minimes — and  each  class  had  its  own 
class-room  and  courtyard.  Balzac  was  considered 
the  idlest  and  most  apathetic  boy  in  his  division,  and 
was  continually  punished.  Reproaches,  the  ferule, 
the  dark  cell,  were  his  portion,  and  with  his  quick  and 
delicate  senses  he  suffered  intensely  from  the  want  of 
air  in  the  class-rooms.  There,  according  to  the  graphic 
picture  in  "  Louis  Lambert,"  everything  was  dirty, 


36  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

and  eighty  boys  inhabited  a  hall,  in  the  centre  of 
which  were  two  buckets  full  of  water,  where  all  washed 
their  faces  and  hands  every  morning,  the  water  being 
only  renewed  once  in  the  day.  To  add  to  the  odours, 
the  air  was  vitiated  by  the  smell  of  pigeons  killed  for 
fete  days,  and  of  dishes  stolen  from  the  refectory, 
and  kept  by  the  pupils  in  their  lockers.  The  boy 
who,  in  the  future,  was  to  awaken  actual  physical  dis- 
gust in  his  readers  by  his  description  of  the  stuif  y  and 
dingy  boarding-house  dining-room  in  "  Le  Pere  Gor- 
iot,"  was  crushed  and  stupefied  by  his  surroundings, 
and  would  sit  for  hours  with  his  head  on  his  hand, 
not  attempting  to  learn,  but  gazing  dreamily  at  the 
clouds,  or  at  the  foliage  of  the  trees  in  the  court 
below.  No  wonder  that  he  was  the  despair  of  his 
masters,  and  that  his  famous  "  Traite  de  la  volonte," 
which  he  composed  instead  of  preparing  the  ordinary 
school  work,  was  summarily  confiscated  and  destroyed. 
So  many  were  the  punishment  lines  given  him  to 
write,  that  his  holidays  were  almost  entirely  taken  up, 
and  he  had  not  six  days  of  liberty  the  whole  time  that 
he  was  at  the  college. 

In  addition  to  the  troubles  incident  to  Honore's  pe- 
culiar temperament  and  genius,  he  had  in  the  winter, 
like  the  other  pupils,  to  submit  to  actual  physical  suf- 
fering. The  price  of  education  included  also  that 
of  clothing,  the  parents  who  sent  their  children  to  the 
Vendome  College  paying  a  yearly  sum,  and  there- 
with comfortably  absolving  themselves  from  all 
trouble  and  responsibility.  But  the  results  were  not 
happy  for  the  boys,  who  dragged  themselves  painfully 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  37 

along  the  icy  roads  in  miserable  remnants  of  boots, 
their  feet  half  dead,  and  swollen  with  sores  and  chil- 
blains. Out  of  sixty  children,  not  ten  walked  without 
torture,  and  many  of  them  would  cry  with  rage  as 
they  limped  along,  each  step  being  a  painful  effort; 
but  with  the  invincible  physical  pluck  and  moral  cow- 
ardice of  childhood,  would  hide  their  tears,  for  fear 
of  ridicule  from  their  companions. 

Nevertheless,  even  to  Balzac,  who  was  peculiarly 
unfitted  for  it,  life  at  the  college  had  its  pleasures. 
The  food  appears  to  have  been  good,  and  the  dis- 
cipline at  meals  not  very  severe,  as  a  regular  system 
of  exchange  of  helpings  to  suit  the  particular  tastes 
of  each  boy  went  on  all  through  dinner,  and  caused 
endless  amusement.  Some  one  who  had  received  peas 
as  his  portion  would  prefer  dessert,  and  the  proposi- 
tion "Un  dessert  pour  des  pois"  would  pass  from 
mouth  to  mouth  till  the  bargain  had  been  made. 
Other  pleasures  were  the  pet  pigeons,  the  gardens, 
the  sweets  bought  secretly  during  the  walks,  the 
permission  to  play  cards  and  to  have  theatrical  per- 
formances during  the  holidays,  the  military  music, 
the  games,  and  the  slides  made  in  winter.  Best  of 
all,  however,  was  the  shop  which  opened  in  the  class- 
room every  Sunday  during  playtime  for  the  sale  of 
boxes,  tools,  pigeons  of  all  sorts,  mass-books  (for 
these  there  was  not  much  demand) ,  knives,  balls,  pen- 
cils— everything  a  boy  could  wish  for.  The  proud 
possessor  of  six  francs — meant  to  last  for  the  term — 
felt  that  the  contents  of  the  whole  shop  were  at  his 
disposal.  Saturday  night  was  passed  in  anxious  yet 


38  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

rapturous  calculations,  and  the  responses  at  Mass  dur- 
ing that  happy  Sunday  morning  mingled  themselves 
with  thoughts  of  the  glorious  time  coming  in  the 
afternoon.  Next  Sunday  was  not  quite  so  delight- 
ful, as  probably  there  were  only  a  few  sous  left,  and 
possibly  some  of  the  purchases  were  broken,  or  had 
not  turned  out  quite  satisfactorily.  Then,  too,  there 
was  a  long  vista  of  Sundays  in  the  future,  without 
any  possibility  of  shopping;  but  after  all  a  certain 
amount  of  compounding  is  always  necessary  in  life, 
and  an  intense  short  joy  is  worth  a  grey  time  before 
and  after. 

When  Balzac  was  fourteen  years  old,  his  life  at  the 
college  came  suddenly  to  an  end,  as,  to  the  alarm  of 
his  masters,  he  was  attacked  by  coma  with  feverish 
symptoms,  and  they  begged  his  parents  to  take  him 
at  once.  It  is  curious  to  notice  that  the  Fathers  make 
no  reference  to  this  failure  in  their  educational  sys- 
tem in  the  school  record,  where  there  is  no  reason 
given  for  Honore's  departure  from  school.  Certainly 
his  life  at  the  Vendome  was  not  very  healthy,  as  some- 
times for  idleness,  inattention,  or  impertinence  he 
was  for  months  shut  up  every  day  in  a  niche  six  feet 
square,  with  a  wooden  door  pierced  by  holes  to  let  in 
air.  When  Champfleury  visited  the  college  years 
afterwards,  the  only  person  who  remembered  Balzac 
was  the  old  Father  who  had  charge  of  these  cells, 
and  he  spoke  of  the  boy's  "  great  black  eyes."  Con- 
finement in  these  culottes  de  bois}  as  they  were  called, 
was  much  dreaded  by  the  boys,  and  the  punishment 
seems  barbarous  and  senseless,  except  from  the  point 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  39 

of  view  of  getting  rid  of  troublesome  pupils.  Balzac, 
however,  welcomed  the  relief  from  ordinary  school 
life  and,  indeed,  manoeuvred  to  be  shut  up.  In  the 
cells  he  had  leisure  to  dream  as  he  pleased,  he  was 
free  from  the  drudgery  of  learning  his  lessons,  and  he 
managed  to  secrete  books  in  his  cage,  and  thus  to 
absorb  the  contents  of  most  of  the  volumes  in  the  fine 
library  collected  by  the  learned  Oratorian  founders  of 
the  college.  The  ideas  in  many  of  the  learned  tomes 
were  far  beyond  his  age,  but  he  understood  them,  re- 
membered them  afterwards,  and  could  recall  in  later 
years  not  only  the  thoughts  in  each  book,  but  also 
the  disposition  of  his  mind  when  he  read  them.  Nat- 
urally this  precocity  of  intellect  caused  brain  fatigue, 
though  this  would  never  have  been  suspected  by  the 
Fathers  of  their  idlest  pupil. 

Honore,  his  sister  tells  us,  came  home  thin  and 
puny,  like  a  somnambulist  sleeping  with  open  eyes, 
and  his  grandmother  groaned  over  the  strain  of 
modern  education.  At  first  he  heard  hardly  any  of 
the  questions  that  were  put  to  him,  and  his  mother 
was  obliged  to  disturb  him  in  reveries,  ancTto  insist 
on  his  taking  part  in  games  with  the  rest  of  the  fam- 
ily; but  with  the  fresh  air  and  the  home  life  he  soon 
recovered  his  health  and  spirits,  and  became  again/a 
lively,  merry  boy.  He  attended  lectures  at  the  col- 
lege near,  and  had  tutors  at  home ;  but  great  efforts 
were  necessary  in  order  to  get  into  his  head  the 
requisite  amount  of  Greek  and  Latin.  Nevertheless, 
at  times  he  was  astonishing,  dt  might  have  been  to 
any  one  with  powers  qj^  observation.  On  these 


40  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

occasions  he  made  such  extraordinary  and  sagacious 
remarks  that  Madame  de  Balzac,  in  her  character  of 
represser,  felt  obliged  to  remark  sharply,  'You 
cannot  possibly  understand  what  you  are  saying, 
Honore  ! "  When  Honore,  who  dared  not  argue, 
looked  at  her  with  a  smile,  she  would,  with  the  ease 
of  absolute  authority,  escape  from  the  awkwardness 
of  the  situation  by  remarking  that  he  was  imperti- 
nent. He  was  already  ambitious,  and  would  tell  his 
sisters  and  brother  about  his  future  fame,  and  accept 
with  a  laugh  the  teasing  he  received  in  consequence. 

It  must  have  been  during  this  time  that  he  grew  to 
love  with  an  enduring  love  the  scenery  of  his  native 
province  of  Touraine,  with  its  undulating  stretches 
of  emerald  green,  through  which  the  Loire  or  the 
Indre  wound  like  a  long  ribbon  of  water,  while  lines 
of  poplars  decked  the  banks  with  moving  lace.  It 
was  a  smiling  country,  dotted  with  vineyards  and  oak 
woods,  while  here  and  there  an  old  gnarled  walnut 
tree  stood  in  rugged  independence.  The  susceptible 
boy,  lately  escaped  from  the  abominations  of  the 
stuffy  school-house,  drank  in  with  rapture  the  warm 
scented  air,  and  often  describes  in  his  novels  the  land- 
scape of  the  province  where  he  was  born,  which 
he  loves,  in  his  own  words,  "as  an  artist  loves  art." 
Another  lasting  memory1  was  that  of  the  poetry 
and  splendour  of  the  Cathedral  of  Saint-Gatien  in 
Tours,  where  he  was  taken  every  feast-day.  There  he 
watched  with  delight  the  beautiful  effects  of  light 

1  See  "  Balzac,  sa  Vie  et  ses  CEuvres,  d'apres  sa  Correspondance,"  par 
Madame  L.  Surville  (n^e  de  Balzac). 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  41 

and  shade,  the  play  of  colour  produced  by  the  rays 
of  sunlight  shining  through  the  old  stained  glass, 
and  the  strange,  fascinating  effect  of  the  clouds  of 
incense  which  enveloped  the  officiating  priests,  and 
from  which  he  possibly  derived  the  idea  of  the  mists 
which  he  often  introduces  into  his  descriptions. 


CHAPTER  III 

1814—1820 


Balzac's  tutors  and  law  studies — His  youth,  as  pictured  in  the 
"  Peau  de  Chagrin" — His    father's  intention    of  making 
him  a  lawyer — He  begs  to  be  allowed  to  become  a 
writer — Is  allowed  his  wish — Life  in  the  Rue 
Lesdiguieres — He  writes    "  Crom- 
well,"   a    tragedy 

AT  the  end  of  1814  the  Balzac  family  moved  to  Paris, 
as  M.  de  Balzac  was  put  in  charge  of  the  Commis- 
sariat of  the  First  Division  of  the  Army.  Here  they 
took  a  house  in  the  Rue  de  Roi-Dore,  in  the  Marais, 
and  Honor  e  continued  his  studies  with  M.  Lepitre, 
Rue  Saint-Louis,  and  MM.  Sganzer  and  Benzelin, 
Rue  de  Thorigny,  in  the  Marais.  To  the  influence 
of  M.  Lepitre,  a  man  who,  unlike  old  M.  de  Balzac 
and  many  other  worthy  people,  was  an  ardent  Legiti- 
mist before  as  well  as  after  1815,  we  may  in  part  trace 
the  strength  of  Balzac's  Royalist  principles.  On  the 
13th  Vindemiaire,  M.  Lepitre  had  presided  over  one 
of  the  sections  of  Paris  which  rose  against  the  Con- 
vention; and  though  on  one  occasion  he  failed  in 
nerve,  his  services  during  the  Revolution  had  been 
most  conspicuous.  On  his  reception  at  the  Tuileries 

42 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  43 

by  the  Duchesse  d'Angouleme,  she  used  these  words, 
never  to  be  forgotten  by  him  to  whom  they  were 
addressed:  "I  have  not  forgotten,  and  I  shall 
never  forget,  the  services  you  have  rendered  to  my 
family."  x 

We  can  imagine  the  enthusiasm  and  delight  with 
which  the  man  who,  whatever  might  be  his  shortcom- 
ings in  courage,  had  always  remained  firm  to  his  Roy- 
alist principles,  and  who  had  been  a  witness  of  the 
terrible  anguish  of  the  prisoners  in  the  Temple,  would 
hear  these  words  from  the  lips  of  the  lady  who  stood 
to  him  as  Queen — the  Antigone  of  France — the  hero- 
ine whose  sufferings  had  made  the  heart  of  every  loyal 
Frenchman  bleed,  the  brave  woman  who,  according 
to  Napoleon,  was  the  one  man  of  her  family.  Le- 
pitre's  visit  to  the  Tuileries  took  place  on  May  9th,, 
1814,  the  year  that  Balzac  began  to  take  those  les- 
sons in  rhetoric  which  first  opened  his  eyes  to  the 
beauty  of  the  French  language.  During  Lepitre's 
tuition  he  composed  a  speech  supposed  to  be  addressed 
by  the  wife  of  Brutus  to  her  husband,  after  the  con- 
demnation of  her  sons,  in  which,  Laure  tells  us,  the 
anguish  of  the  mother  is  depicted  with  great  power, 
and  Balzac  shows  his  wonderful  faculty  for  entering 
into  the  souls  of  his  personages.  Lepitre  had  evi- 
dently a  powerful  influence  over  his  pupil,  and  as  a 
master  of  rhetoric  he  would  naturally  be  eloquent  and 
have  command  of  language,  and  in  consequence 
would  be  most  probably  of  fiery  and  enthusiastic  tem- 
perament. We  can  imagine  the  fervour  with  which 

1 "  Biographic  Universelle,"  by  De  Michaud. 


44  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

the  impressionable  boy  drank  in  stories  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  royal  family  during  their  imprisonment  in 
the  Temple,  and  strove  not  to  miss  a  syllable  of  his 
master's  magnificent  exordiums,  which  glowed  with 
the  light  and  heat  of  impassioned  loyalty. 

No  doubt  Balzac's  "  Une  Vie  de  Femme,"  a  touch- 
ing account  of  the  life  of  the  Duchesse  d'Angouleme, 
which  appeared  in  the  Reformateur  in  1832,  was 
partly  compiled  from  the  reminiscences  of  his  old 
master ;  and  when  we  hear  of  his  ardent  defence  of  the 
Duchesse  de  Berry,  or  that  he  treasured  a  tea-service 
which  was  not  of  any  intrinsic  value,  because  it  had 
belonged  to  the  Due  d'Angouleme,  we  see  traces  of 
his  intense  love  and  admiration  for  the  Bourbon 
family. 

Nevertheless,  in  that  big,  well-balanced  brain  there 
was  room  for  many  emotions,  and  for  a  wide  range  of 
sympathies.  The  many-sidedness  which  is  a  neces- 
sary characteristic  of  every  great  psychologist,  was  a 
remarkable  quality  in  Balzac.  He  may  have  been 
present  at  Napoleon's  last  review  on  the  Carrousel — 
at  any  rate  he  tells  in  "  La  Femme  de  Trente  Ans  " 
how  the  man  "thus  surrounded  with  so  much  love, 
enthusiasm,  devotion,  prayer — for  whom  the  sun  had 
driven  every  cloud  from  the  sky — sat  motionless  on 
his  horse,  three  feet  in  advance  of  the  dazzling  escort 
that  followed  him,"  and  that  an  old  grenadier  said, 
"  My  God,  yes,  it  was  always  so ;  under  fire  at  Wag- 
ram,  among  the  dead  in  the  Moskowa,  he  was  quiet 
as  a  lamb — yes,  that's  he!"  Balzac's  admiration  for 
Napoleon  was  intense,  as  he  shows  in  many  of  his 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  45 

writings,  and  his  proudest  boast  is  to  be  found  in  the 
words,  said  to  have  been  inscribed  on  a  statuette  of 
Napoleon  in  his  room  in  the  Rue  Cassini,  "  What  he 
has  begun  with  the  sword,  I  shall  finish  with  the  pen." 
None  of  Balzac's  masters  thought  much  of  his 
talents,  or  perceived  anything  remarkable  about  him. 
He  returned  home  in  1816,  full  of  health  and  vigour, 
the  personification  of  happiness ;  and  his  conscientious 
mother  immediately  set  to  work  to  repair  the  deficien- 
cies of  his  former  education,  and  sent  him  to  lectures 
at  the  Sorbonne,  where  he  heard  extempore  speeches 
from  such  men  as  Villemain,  Guizot,  and  Cousin. 
Apparently  this  teaching  opened  a  new  world  to  him, 
and  he  learned  for  the  first  time  that  education  can 
be  more  than  a  dull  routine  of  dry  facts,  and  felt  the 
joy  of  contact  with  eloquence  and  learning.  Possi- 
bly he  realised,  as  he  had  not  realised  before — Tours 
being,  as  he  says,  a  most  unliterary  town — that  there 
were  people  in  the  world  who  looked  on  things  as  he 
did,  and  who  would  understand,  and  not  laugh  at  him 
or  snub  him.  He  always  returned  from  these  lec- 
tures, his  sister  says,  glowing  with  interest,  and  would 
try  as  far  as  he  could  to  repeat  them  to  his  family. 
Then  he  would  rush  out  to  study  in  the  public  libra- 
ries, so  that  he  might  be  able  to  profit  by  the  teaching 
of  his  illustrious  professors,  or  would  wander  about 
the  Latin  Quarter,  to  hunt  for  rare  and  precious 
books.  He  used  his  opportunities  in  other  ways. 
An  old  lady  living  in  the  house  with  the  Balzacs  had 
been  an  intimate  friend  of  the  great  Beaumarchais. 
Honore  loved  to  talk  to  her,  and  would  ask  her 


46  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

questions,  and  listen  with  the  greatest  interest  to  her 
replies,  till  he  could  have  written  a  Life  of  the 
celebrated  man  himself.  His  powers  of  acute  obser- 
vation, interest,  and  sympathy — in  short,  his  intense 
faculty  for  human  fellowship,  as  well  as  his  capacity 
for  assimilating  information  from  books — were 
already  at  work;  and  the  future  novelist  was  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  collecting  material  in  all 
directions. 

In  1816  it  was  considered  necessary  that  he  should 
be  started  with  regular  work,  and  he  was  established 
for  eighteen  months  with  a  lawyer,  M.  de  Guillonnet- 
Merville,  who  was,  like  M.  Lepitre,  a  friend  of  the 
Balzac  family,  and  an  ardent  Royalist.  Eugene 
Scribe — another  amateur  lawyer— as  M.  de  Guilon- 
net-Merville  indulgently  remarked,  had  just  left  the 
office,  and  Honore  was  established  at  the  desk  and 
table  vacated  by  him.  He  became  very  fond  of  his 
chief,  whom  he  has  immortalised  as  Derville  in  "  Tine 
Tenebreuse  Affaire,"  "Le  Pere  Goriot,"  and  other 
novels;  and  he  dedicated  to  this  old  friend  "  Un  Epi- 
sode sous  la  Terreur,"  which  was  published  in  1846, 
and  is  a  powerful  and  touching  story  of  the  remorse 
felt  by  the  executioner  of  Louis  XVI.  After  eight- 
een months  in  this  office,  he  passed  the  same  time  in 
that  of  M.  Passez,  a  notary,  who  lived  in  the  same 
house  with  the  Balzacs,  and  was  another  of  their 
intimates. 

Balzac  does  not  appear  to  have  made  any  objection 
to  these  arrangements,  though  his  legal  studies  can- 
not have  been  congenial  to  him;  but  they  were  only 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  47 

spoken  of  at  this  time  as  a  finish  to  his  education — 
old  M.  de  Balzac,  homme  de  loi  himself,  remarking 
that  no  man's  education  can  be  complete  without  a 
knowledge  of  ancient  and  modern  legislation,  and  an 
acquaintance  with  the  statutes  of  his  own  coun- 
try. Perhaps  Honore,  wiser  now  than  in  his  school- 
days, had  learnt  that  all  knowledge  is  equipment  for 
the  work  of  the  world,  and  especially  for  a  literary 
life.  He  certainly  made  good  use  of  his  time,  and 
the  results  can  be  seen  in  many  of  his  works,  notably 
in  the  "  Tenebreuse  Affaire,"  which  contains  in  the 
account  of  the  famous  trial  a  masterly  exposition  of 
the  legislature  of  the  First  Empire,  or  in  "  Cesar 
Birotteau,"  which  shows  such  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  laws  of  bankruptcy  of  the  time  that  its  compli- 
cated plot  cannot  be  thoroughly  understood  by  any 
one  unversed  in  legal  matters. 

Honore  was  very  well  occupied  at  this  time,  and 
his  mother  must  have  felt  for  once  thoroughly  satis- 
fied with  him.  In  addition  to  his  study  of  law,  he  had 
to  follow  the  course  of  lectures  at  the  Sorbonne  and 
at  the  College  of  France;  and  these  studies  were  a 
delightful  excuse  for  a  very  fitful  occupation  of  his 
seat  in  the  lawyer's  office.  Besides  his  multifarious 
occupations,  he  managed  in  the  evenings  to  find  time 
to  play  cards  with  his  grandmother,  who  lived  with  her 
daughter  and  son-in-law.  The  gentle  old  lady  spoilt 
Honore,  his  mother  considered,  and  would  allow  him 
to  win  money  from  her,  which  he  joyfully  expended 
on  books.  His  sister,  who  tells  us  this,  says,  "He 
always  loved  those  games  in  memory  of  her;  and  the 


HONORS  DE  BALZAC 

recollection  of  her  sayings  and  of  her  gestures  used 
to  come  to  him  like  a  happiness  which,  as  he  said,  he 
wrested  from  a  tomb." 

^  Other  recollections  of  this  time  were  not  so  pleas- 
ant. Honore  wished  to  shine  in  society.  No  doubt 
the  two  "  immense  and  sole  desires — to  be  famous  and 

~~-to  be  loved"  —which  haunted  him  continually,  till  he 
at  last  obtained  them  at  the  cost  of  his  life,  were  al- 
ready at  work  with  him,  and  he  longed  for  the  tender 
glances  of  some  charming  demoiselle.  At  any  rate 
he  took  dancing-lessons,  and  prepared  himself  to 
enter  with  grace  into  ladies'  society.  Here,  however,  a 
terrible  humiliation  awaited  him.  After  all  his  care 
and  pains,  he  slipped  and  fell  in  the  ball-room,  and  his 
mortification  at  the  smiles  of  the  women  round  was 
so  great  that  he  never  danced  again,  but  looked  on 
henceforward  with  the  cynicism  which  he  expresses 
in  the  "  Peau  de  Chagrin."  That  wonderful  book, 
side  by  side  with  its  philosophical  teaching,  gives  a 
graphic  picture  of  one  side  of  Balzac's  restless,  fever- 
ish youth,  as  "  Louis  Lambert "  does  of  his  repressed 
childhood.  Neither  Louis  Lambert  nor  the  morbid 
and  selfish  Raphael  give,  however,  the  slightest  indi- 
cation of  Balzac's  most  salient  characteristic  both  as 
boy  and  youth — the  healthy  joie  de  vivre,  the  gaiety 
and  exuberant  merriment  of  which  his  contempora- 
ries speak  constantly,  and  which  shone  out  undimmed 
even  by  the  wretched  health  and  terrible  worries  of 
the  last  few  years  of  his  life.  In  his  books,  the  bitter 
and  melancholy  side  of  things  reigns  almost  exclu- 
sively, and  Balzac,  using  Raphael  as  his  mouthpiece, 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  49 

says:  "Women  one  and  all  have  condemned  me. 
With  tears  and  mortification  I  bowed  before  the  de- 
cision of  the  world;  but  my  distress  was  not  barren. 
I  determined  to  revenge  myself  on  society;  I  would 
dominate  the  feminine  intellect,  and  so  have  the  femi- 
nine soul  at  my  mercy;  all  eyes  should  be  fixed  upon 
me,  when  the  servant  at  the  door  announced  my  name. 
I  had  determined  from  my  childhood  that  I  would  be 
a  great  man.  I  said  with  Andre  Chenier,  as  I  struck 
my  forehead,  '  There  is  something  underneath  that ! ' 
I  felt,  I  believed,  the  thought  within  me  that  I  must 
express,  the  system  I  must  establish,  the  knowledge  I 
must  interpret."  In  another  place  in  the  same  book 
the  bitterness  of  his  social  failure  again  peeps  out: 
'  The  incomprehensible  bent  of  women's  minds  ap- 
pears to  lead  them  to  see  nothing  but  the  weak  points 
in  a  clever  man  and  the  strong  points  of  a  fool." 

Reading  these  words,  we  can  imagine  poor  Honore, 
a  proud,  supersensitive  boy,  leaning  against  the  wall 
in  the  ball-room,  and  watching  enviously  while  agree- 
able nonentities  basked  in  the  smiles  he  yearned  for. 
It  was  a  hard  lot  to  feel  within  him  the  intuitive 
knowledge  of  his  genius ;  to  hear  the  insistent  voice  of 
his  vocation  calling  him  not  to  be  as  ordinary  men, 
but  to  give  his  message  to  the  world ;  and  yet  to  have 
the  miserable  consciousness  that  no  one  believed  in 
his  talents,  and  that  there  was  a  huge  discrepancy 
between  his  ambition  and  his  actual  attainments. 

In  1820  Honore  attained  his  majority  and  finished 
his  legal  studies.  Unfortunately  the  pecuniary  mis- 
fortunes which  were  to  haunt  all  this  generation  of 


50  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

the  Balzac  family  were  beginning — as  old  M.  de  Bal- 
zac had  lost  money  in  two  speculations,  and  now  at 
the  age  of  seventy-four  was  put  on  the  retired  list, 
a  change  which  meant  a  considerable  diminution 
of  income.  He  therefore  explained  to  his  son— 
Madame  Surville  tells  us — that  M.  Passez,  to  whom 
he  had  formerly  been  of  service,  had  in  gratitude 
offered  to  take  Honore  into  his  office,  and  at  the  end 
of  a  few  years  would  leave  him  his  business,  when, 
with  the  additional  arrangement  of  a  rich  marriage, 
a  prosperous  future  would  be  assured  to  him.  Old 
M.  de  Balzac  did  not  specify  the  nature  of  the  service 
which  was  to  meet  with  so  rich  a  reward;  and  as  he 
was  a  gentleman  with  a  distinct  liking  for  talking  of 
his  own  doings,  we  may  amuse  ourselves  by  supposing 
that  it  had  to  do  with  those  Red  Republican  days 
which  he  was  not  fond  of  recalling. 

Great  was  Honore's  consternation  at  this  news. 
In  the  first  place,  owing  to  M.  de  Balzac's  constant 
vapourings  about  the  enormous  wealth  he  would 
leave  to  his  children,  it  is  doubtful  whether  Honore, 
who  was  probably  not  admitted  to  his  parents'  confi- 
dence, had  realised  up  to  this  time  that  he  would  have 
to  earn  his  own  living.  Then,  if  it  were  necessary 
for  him  to  work  for  his  bread,  he  now  knew  enough  of 
the  routine  of  a  lawyer's  office  to  look  with  horror  on 
the  prospect  of  drawing  up  wills,  deeds  of  sale,  and 
marriage  settlements  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He 
never  forgave  the  legal  profession  the  shock  and  the 
terror  he  experienced  at  this  time,  and  his  portraits 
of  lawyers,  with  some  notable  exceptions,  are  marked 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  51 

by  decided  animus.  For  instance,  in  "  Les  Fran9ais 
peints  par  eux-memes,"  edited  by  Cummer,  the 
notary,  as  described  by  Balzac,  has  a  flat,  expression- 
less face  and  wears  a  mask  of  bland  silliness;  and  in 
"  Pamela  Giraud  "  one  of  the  characters  remarks,  "  A 
lawyer  who  talks  to  himself — that  reminds  me  of  a 
pastrycook  who  eats  his  own  cakes."  It  was  rather 
unfair  to  decry  all  lawyers  because  of  the  deadly 
fear  he  felt  at  the  prospect  of  being  forced  into  their 
ranks,  as  there  is  little  doubt  that  he  would  have 
shrunk  with  like  abhorrence  from  any  business  pro- 
posed to  him.  His  childish  longing  for  fame  had 
developed  and  taken  shape,  and  for  him,  if  he  lacked 
genius,  there  was  no  alternative  but  the  dragging 
out  of  a  worthless  and  wearying  existence.  Con- 
scious of  his  powers,  it  was  a  time  of  struggle,  of  pas- 
sionate endeavour,  possibly  of  bewilderment;  with 
the  one  great  determination  standing  firm  in  the 
midst  of  a  chaos  of  doubt  and  difficulty — the  deter- 
mination to  persevere,  and  to  become  a  writer  at  any 
cost. 

He  therefore,  to  his  father's  consternation,  an- 
nounced his  objection  to  following  a  legal  career,  and 
begged  to  be  allowed  an  opportunity  of  proving  his 
literary  powers.  Thereupon  there  were  lively  dis- 
cussions in  the  family;  but  at  last  the  kindly  M.  de 
Balzac,  apparently  against  his  wife's  wishes,  yielded 
to  his  son's  earnest  entreaties,  and  allowed  him  two 
years  in  which  to  try  his  fortune  as  a  writer.  The 
friends  of  the  family  were  loud  in  their  exclamations 
of  disapproval  at  the  folly  of  this  proceeding,  which 


52  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

would,  they  said,  waste  two  of  the  best  years  of 
Honore's  life.  As  far  as  they  could  see,  he  possessed 
no  genius ;  and  even  if  he  were  to  succeed  in  a  literary 
career,  he  would  certainly  not  gain  a  fortune,  which 
after  all  was  the  principal  thing  to  be  considered. 
However,  either  the  strenuousness  and  force  of 
Honore's  arguments,  or  the  softness  of  his  father's 
heart,  prevailed  in  his  favour;  and,  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  the  whole  of  his  little  world,  he  was 
allowed  to  have  his  own  way,  and  to  make  trial  of  his 
powers.  The  rest  of  the  family  retired  to  Villepa- 
risis,  about  sixteen  miles  from  Paris,  and  he  was  es- 
tablished in  a  small  attic  at  No.  9,  Rue  Lesdiguieres, 
which  was  chosen  by  him  for  its  nearness  to  the  Bibli- 
otheque  de  1' Arsenal,  the  only  public  library  of  which 
the  contents  were  unknown  to  him.  At  the  same 
time,  appearances,  always  all-important  in  the  Balzac 
family,  were  observed,  by  the  fiction  that  Honore  was 
at  Alby,  on  a  visit  to  a  cousin;  and  in  this  way  his 
literary  venture  was  kept  secret,  in  case  it  proved 
unsuccessful. 

Having  arranged  this,  and  asserted  himself  to  the 
extent  of  insisting  that  his  son  should  be  allowed  a 
certain  amount  of  freedom  in  choosing  his  career, 
even  if  he  fixed  on  a  course  which  seemed  suicidal,  old 
M.  de  Balzac  appears  to  have  retired  from  the  direc- 
tion of  affairs,  and  to  have  left  his  energetic  wife  to 
follow  her  own  will  about  details.  There  was  no 
doubt  in  that  lady's  mind  as  to  the  methods  to  be  pur- 
sued. Her  husband  had  been  culpably  weak,  and 
had  allowed  himself  to  be  swayed  by  the  freak  of  a 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  53 

boy  who  hated  work  and  wanted  an  excuse  for  idle- 
ness. Honore  must  be  brought  to  reason,  and  be 
taught  that  "  the  way  of  transgressors  is  hard,"  and 
that  people  who  refuse  to  take  their  fair  share  of 
life's  labour  must  of  necessity  suffer  from  depriva- 
tion of  their  butter,  if  not  of  their  bread.  Her  hus- 
band was  an  old  man,  and  had  lost  money,  and  it  was 
most  exasperating  that  Honore  should  refuse  a 
splendid  chance  of  securing  his  own  future,  and  one 
which  would  most  probably  never  occur  again.  To  a 
good  business  woman,  who  did  not  naturally  share 
in  the  boundless  optimistic  views  of  M.  de  Balzac  for 
the  future,  the  crass  folly  of  yielding  to  the  wishes 
of  a  boy  who  could  not  possibly  know  what  was  best 
for  him,  was  glaringly  apparent.  However,  being  a 
practical  woman,  when  she  had  done  her  duty  in  mak- 
ing the  household — except  the  placid  M.  de  Balzac— 
thoroughly  uncomfortable,  and  had  most  probably 
driven  Honore  almost  wild  with  suppressed  irrita- 
tion, she  embarked  on  the  plan  of  campaign  which 
was  to  bring  the  culprit  back,  repentant  and  submis- 
sive, to  the  lawyer's  desk. 

To  accomplish  this  as  quickly  as  possible,  it  was 
necessary  to  make  him  extremely  uncomfortable;  so 
having  furnished  his  attic  with  the  barest  necessities 
—a  bed,  a  table,  and  a  few  chairs — she  gave  him  such 
a  scanty  allowance  that  he  would  have  starved  if  an 
old  woman,  la  mere  Comin,  whom  he  termed  his  Iris, 
had  not  been  told  to  go  occasionally  to  look  after  him. 
In  spite  of  the  gaiety  of  Balzac's  letters  from  his  gar- 
ret, the  hardships  he  went  through  were  terrible,  and 


54  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

in  later  years  he  could  not  speak  of  his  sufferings  at 
this  time  without  tears  coming  to  his  eyes.  Appar- 
ently he  could  not  even  afford  to  have  a  fire ;  and  the 
attic  was  extremely  draughty,  blasts  coming  from 
the  door  and  window;  so  that  in  a  letter  to  his  sister 
he  begs  her,  when  sending  the  coverlet  for  which 
he  has  already  asked,  to  let  him  have  a  very  old 
shawl,  which  he  can  wear  at  night.  His  legs,  where 
he  feels  the  cold  most,  are  wrapped  in  an  ancient  coat 
made  by  a  small  tailor  of  Tours,  who  to  his  disgust 
used  to  alter  his  father's  garments  to  fit  him,  and 
was  a  dreadful  bungler;  but  the  upper  half  of  his 
body  is  only  protected  by  the  roof  and  a  flannel  waist- 
coat from  the  frost,  and  he  needs  a  shawl  badly.  He 
also  hopes  for  a  Dantesque  cap,  the  kind  his  mother 
always  makes  for  him;  and  this  pattern  of  cap 
from  the  hands  of  Madame  de  Balzac  figures  in  the 
accounts  of  his  attire  later  on  in  his  life.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  he  has  a  cold,  and  later  on  a  terrible 
toothache;  but  it  is  astonishing  that,  in  spite  of  cold, 
hunger,  and  discomfort,  he  preserves  his  gaiety, 
pluck,  and  power  of  making  light  of  hardships,  traits 
of  character  which  were  to  be  strikingly  salient  all 
through  his  hard,  fatiguing  career.  In  spite  of  the 
misery  of  his  surroundings,  he  had  many  compensa- 
tions. He  had  gained  the  wish  of  his  heart,  life  was 
before  him,  beautiful  dreams  of  future  fame  floated 
in  the  air,  and  at  present  he  had  no  hateful  burden  of 
debt  to  weigh  him  down.  Therefore  he  managed  to 
ignore  to  a  great  extent  the  physical  pain  and 
discomfort  he  went  through,  as  he  ignored  them  all 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  55 

through  his  life,  except  when  ill  health  interfered 
with  the  accomplishment  of  his  work. 

Another  characteristic  which  might  also  be  amaz- 
ing, did  we  not  meet  it  constantly  in  Balzac's  life,  is 
his  longing  for  luxury  and  beauty,  and  his  extraordi- 
nary faculty  for  embarking  in  a  perfectly  business- 
like way  on  wildly  unreasonable  schemes.  With 
hardly  enough  money  to  provide  himself  with  scanty 
meals,  he  intends  to  economise,  in  order  to  buy  a 
piano.  "  The  garret  is  not  big  enough  to  hold  one," 
as  he  casually  remarks;  but  this  fact,  which,  apart 
from  the  starving  process  necessary  in  order  to  obtain 
funds,  would  appear  to  the  ordinary  mind  an  insur- 
mountable obstacle  to  the  project,  does  not  daunt 
the  ever-hopeful  Honore. 

He  has  taken  the  dimensions,  he  says;  and  if  the 
landlord  objects  to  the  expense  of  moving  back  the 
wall,  he  will  pay  the  money  himself,  and  add  it  to 
the  price  of  the  piano.  Here  we  recognise  exactly  the 
same  Balzac  whose  vagrant  schemes  later  on  were 
listened  to  by  his  friends  with  a  mixture  of  fascina- 
tion and  bewilderment,  and  who,  in  utter  despair 
about  his  pecuniary  circumstances  at  the  beginning 
of  a  letter,  talks  airily  towards  the  end  of  buying  a 
costly  picture,  or  acquiring  an  estate  in  the  country. 

There  is  a  curious  and  striking  contrast  in  Balzac 
between  the  backwardness  in  the  expression  of  his 
literary  genius,  and  the  early  development  and  crys- 
tallisation of  his  character  and  powers  of  mind  in 
other  directions.  Even  when  he  realised  his  voca- 
tion, forsook  verse,  and  began  to  write  novels,  he  for 


56  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

long  gave  no  indication  of  his  future  powers;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  his  views 
on  most  points  were  formed,  and  his  judgments 
matured.  Therefore,  unlike  most  men  in  whom  even 
if  there  be  no  violent  changes  age  gradually  and 
imperceptibly  modifies  the  point  of  view,  Balzac,  a 
youth  in  his  garret,  differed  little  in  essentials  from 
Balzac  at  forty-five  or  fifty,  a  man  of  world- wide 
celebrity.  He  never  appears  to  have  passed  through 
those  phases  of  belief  and  unbelief — those  wild  en- 
thusiasms, to  be  rejected  later  in  life — which  gener- 
ally fall  to  the  lot  of  young  men  of  talent.  Perhaps 
his  reasoning  and  reflective  powers  were  developed 
unusually  early,  so  that  he  sowed  his  mental  wild  oats 
in  his  boyhood.  At  any  rate,  in  his  garret  in  1819 
he  was  the  same  Balzac  that  we  know  in  later  life. 
Large-minded  and  far-seeing — except  about  his  busi- 
ness concerns — he  was  from  his  youth  a  voyant,  who 
discerned  with  extraordinary  acuteness  the  trend  of 
political  events;  and  with  an  intense  respect  for 
authority,  he  was  yet  independent,  and  essentially  a 
strong  man. 

This  absolute  stability — a  fact  Balzac  often  com- 
ments on — is  very  remarkable,  especially  as  his  was  a 
life  full  of  variety,  during  which  he  was  brought  into 
contact  with  many  influences.  He  studied  the  men 
around  him,  and  gauged  their  characters — though  it 
must  be  allowed  that  he  did  not  make  very  good  prac- 
tical use  of  his  knowledge ;  but  owing  to  his  strength 
and  breadth  of  vision,  he  was  himself  in  all  essentials 
immovable. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  57 

The  same  ambitions,  desires,  and  opinions  can  be 
traced  all  through  his  career.  The  wish  to  enter  po- 
litical life,  which  haunted  him  always,  was  already 
beginning  to  stir  in  1819,  when  he  wrote  at  the  time 
of  the  elections  to  a  friend,  M.  Theodore  Dablin,  that 
he  dreamt  of  nothing  but  him  and  the  deputies;  and 
his  last  book,  "  L'Envers  de  1'Histoire  contempo- 
raine,"  accentuated,  if  possible  more  than  any  work 
that  had  preceded  it,  the  extreme  Royalist  principles 
which  he  showed  in  his  garret  play,  the  ill-fated 
"  Cromwell." 

He  never  swerved  from  the  two  great  ambitions  of 
his  life — to  be  loved,  and  to  be  famous.  He  was 
faithful  in  his  friendships;  and  when  once  he  had 
found  the  woman  whom  he  felt  might  be  all  in.  all  to 
him,  and  who  possessed  besides  personal  advantages 
the  qualifications  of  birth  and  money — for  which  he 
had  always  craved — no  difficulties  were  allowed  to 
stand  in  the  way,  and  no  length  of  weary  waiting 
could  tire  out  his  patience.  He  was  constant  even 
to  his  failures.  He  began  his  literary  career  by  writ- 
ing a  play,  and  all  through  his  life  the  idea  of  making 
his  fortune  by  means  of  a  successful  drama  recurred 
to  him  constantly.  Several  times  he  went  through 
that  most  trying  of  experiences,  a  failure  which  only 
just  missed  being  a  brilliant  success,  and  once  this 
affected  him  so  much  that  he  became  seriously  ill ;  but, 
with  his  usual  spirit  and  courage,  he  tried  again  and 
again.  His  friend  Theophile  Gautier,  writing  of 
him  in  La  Presse  of  September  30th,  1843,  after  the 
failure  of  "Pamela  Giraud,"  said  truly  that  Balzac 


58  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

intended  to  go  on  writing  plays,  even  if  he  had  to  get 
through  a  hundred  acts  before  he  could  find  his 
proper  form. 

One  part  of  Balzac  never  grew  up — he  was  all  his 
life  the  "child-man"  his  sister  calls  him.  After 
nights  without  sleep  he  would  come  out  of  his  solitude 
with  laughter,  joy,  and  excitement  to  show  a  new  mas- 
terpiece; and  this  was  always  more  wonderful  than 
anything  which  had  preceded  it.  He  was  more  of  a 
child  than  his  nieces,  Madame  Surville  tells  us: 
"  laughed  at  puns,  envied  the  lucky  being  who  had  the 
'gift'  of  making  them,  tried  to  do  so  himself,  and 
failed,  saying  regretfully,  'No,  that  doesn't  make  a 
pun.'  He  used  to  cite  with  satisfaction  the  only  two 
he  had  ever  made,  '  and  not  much  of  a  success  either,' 
he  avowed  in  all  humility,  'for  I  didn't  know  I  was 
making  them,'  and  we  even  suspected  him  of  embel- 
lishing them  afterward." l  He  was  delightfully 
simple,  even  to  the  end  of  his  life.  In  1849  he  wrote 
from  Russia,  where  he  was  confined  to  his  room  with 
illness,  to  describe  minutely  a  beautiful  new  dressing- 
gown  in  which  he  marched  about  the  room  like  a  sul- 
tan, and  was  possessed  with  one  of  those  delightful 
joys  which  we  only  have  at  eighteen.  "I  am  writing 
to  you  now  in  my  termolana,"  2  he  adds  for  the  sat- 
isfaction of  his  correspondent. 

We  must  now  return  to  Honore  in  his  attic,  where, 
as  in  later  years,  he  drank  much  coiFee,  and  was  un- 

1 "  Balzac,    sa   Vie   et   ses   CEuvres,   d'apres   sa   Correspondance,"   by 
Madame  L.  Surville  (nde  de  Balzac). 
2  "  H.  de  Balzac — Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  418. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  59 

able  to  resist  the  passion  for  fruit  which  was  always 
his  one  gourmandise.  He  records  one  day  that  he 
has  eaten  two  melons,  and  must  pay  for  the  extrava- 
gance with  a  diet  of  dry  bread  and  nuts,  but  contem- 
plates further  starvations  to  pay  for  a  seat  to  see 
Talma  in  "  China." 

He  writes  to  his  sister :  "  I  feel  to-day  that  riches 
do  not  make  happiness,  and  that  the  time  I  shall  pass 
here  will  be  to  me  a  source  of  pleasant  memories.  To 
live  according  to  my  fancy;  to  work  as  I  wish  and  in 
my  own  way ;  to  do  nothing  if  I  wish  it ;  to  dream  of 
a  beautiful  future;  to  think  of  you  and  to  know  you 
are  happy;  to  have  as  lady-love  the  Julie  of  Rous- 
seau; to  have  La  Fontaine  and  Moliere  as  friends, 
Racine  for  a  master,  and  Pere-Lachaise  to  walk  to,— 
oh!  if  it  would  only  last  always."1 

Pere-Lachaise  was  a  favourite  resort  when  he  was 
not  working  very  hard;  and  it  was  from  there  that 
he  obtained  his  finest  inspirations,  and  decided  that, 
of  all  the  feelings  of  the  soul,  sorrow  is  the  most  diffi- 
cult to  express,  because  of  its  simplicity.  Curiously 
enough,  he  abandoned  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  because 
he  thought  it  melancholy,  and  apparently  found  his 
reflections  among  the  tombs  more  cheerful.  He 
decided  that  the  only  beautiful  epitaphs  are  single 
names — such  as  La  Fontaine,  Massena,  Moliere, 
"  which  tell  all,  and  make  one  dream." 

When  he  returned  home  to  his  garret,  fresh  inter- 
ests awaited  him.  Sometimes,  he  tells  us  in  the 
"Peau  de  Chagrin,"  he  would  "study  the  mosses, 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i. 


60  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

with  their  colours  revived  by  showers,  or  transformed 
by  the  sun  into  a  brown  velvet  that  fitfully  caught 
the  light.  Such  things  as  these  formed  my  recre- 
ations ;  the  passing  poetic  moods  of  daylight,  the  mel- 
ancholy mists,  sudden  gleams  of  sunlight,  the  silence 
and  the  magic  of  night,  the  mysteries  of  dawn,  the 
smoke-wreaths  from  each  chimney;  every  chance 
event,  in  fact,  in  my  curious  world  became  familiar 
to  me." 

Occasionally  on  Sundays  he  would  go  to  a  friend's 
house,  ostensibly  to  play  cards — a  pastime  which  he 
hated.  He  generally,  however,  managed  to  escape 
from  the  eye  of  his  hostess;  and  comfortably  en- 
sconced in  a  window  behind  thick  curtains,  or  hidden 
behind  a  high  armchair,  he  would  pour  into  the  ear  of 
a  congenial  companion  some  of  the  thoughts  which 
surged  through  his  impetuous  brain.  All  his  life  he 
needed  this  outlet  after  concentrated  mental  labour; 
and  sometimes  in  a  friend's  drawing-room,  if  he  knew 
himself  to  be  surrounded  only  by  intimates,  he  would 
give  full  vent  to  his  conversational  powers.  On  these 
occasions  he  would  carry  his  hearers  away  with  him, 
often  against  their  better  judgment,  by  his  eloquence 
and  verve ;  would  send  them  into  fits  of  hearty  laugh- 
ter by  his  sallies,  his  store  of  droll  anecdotes,  his  jol- 
lity and  gaiety;  and  would  display  his  consummate 
gifts  as  a  dramatic  raconteur.  Later  in  life,  after 
he  had  raised  the  enmity  of  a  large  section  of  the 
writing  world,  and  knew  that  there  were  many  watch- 
ing eagerly  to  immortalise  in  print — with  gay  malice 
.and  wit  on  the  surface,  and  bitter  spite  and  hatred  be- 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  61 

low — the  heedless  and  possibly  arrogant  words  their 
enemy  had  uttered  in  moments  of  excitement  and  ex- 
pansion, he  grew  cautious ;  and  sometimes  because  of 
this,  and  sometimes  because  he  was  collecting  ma- 
terial for  his  work,  he  would  often  be  silent  in  general 
society.  To  the  end,  however,  he  loved  a  tete-a-tete 
with  a  sympathetic  listener — one,  it  must  be  conceded, 
who  would  be  content,  except  for  occasional  com- 
ment, to  remain  himself  in  the  background,  as  the 
great  man  wanted  a  safety-valve  for  his  own  im- 
petuous thoughts,  and  did  not  generally  care  to  hear 
the  paler,  less  interesting  impressions  of  his  com- 
panion. 

With  what  longing,  in  the  midst  of  his  harassing 
life  in  Paris,  he  would  look  back  to  the  charming  long 
fireside  chats  he  had  had  with  Madame  Hanska;  and 
as  the  time  to  meet  her  again  came  nearer,  with  what 
satisfaction  special  tit-bits  of  gossip  were  reserved  to 
be  talked  over  and  explained  during  the  long  even- 
ings at  Wierzchownia !  How  he  loved  to  rush  in  to 
his  sister  with  the  latest  news  of  the  personages  of  his 
novels,  as  well  as  with  brilliant  plans  to  improve  his 
general  prospects;  and  with  what  enthusiasm  he 
poured  out  to  Theophile  Gautier,  or  even  to  Leon 
Gozlan,  his  confidences  of  all  sorts!  Plans,  absurd 
and  impossible,  but  worked  out  with  a  business-like 
arrangement  of  detail  which,  when  mingled  with 
somnambulists  and  magnetisers,  had  a  weird  yet  ap- 
parently fascinating  effect  on  his  hearers;  magnifi- 
cent diatribes  against  the  wickedness  of  his  special 
enemies,  journalists,  editors,  and  the  Press  in  general; 


62  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

strange  fancies  to  do  with  the  world  where  Eugenie 
Grandet  or  Le  Pere  Goriot  had  their  dwelling, — all 
these  ideas,  opinions,  and  feelings  came  from  his  lips 
with  an  eloquence,  a  force,  and  a  life  which  were  all 
convincing.  Yet  by  a  strange  anomaly,  which  is 
sometimes  seen  in  talkative  and  apparently  unre- 
served people,  Balzac  in  reality  revealed  very  little 
of  himself — in  fact,  we  may  often  suspect  him  of 
using  a  flow  of  apparently  spontaneous  words  as  a 
screen  to  mask  some  hidden  feeling.  Therefore,  when 
people  who  had  considered  themselves  his  intimate 
friends  tried  to  write  about  him  after  his  death,  they 
found  that  they  really  knew  little  of  the  essentials  of 
the  man,  and  could  only  string  together  amusing 
anecdotes,  proving  him  to  have  been  eccentric,  amus- 
ing, and  essentially  bon  camarade,  but  giving  little 
idea  of  his  real  personality  and  genius. 

Even  in  these  early  days  at  the  card-parties — 
where  sometimes  the  hostess  noticed  the  defection  of 
the  two  young  guests,  and,  holding  a  card  in  each 
white  delicate  hand,  would  beckon  them  to  take  their 
place  at  the  game,  which  they  would  do  with  humble 
and  discomfited  faces,  like  schoolboys  surprised  at  a 
forbidden  amusement — M.  de  Petigny,  Balzac's 
companion,  must  have  been  struck  by  his  openness  in 
some  respects  and  the  absolute  mystery  with  which  he 
surrounded  himself  in  others.  Where  he  lived,  what 
he  was  doing,  what  his  life  was  like — all  these  facts 
were  hidden  from  his  companion,  till  he  revealed  him- 
self at  last,  on  the  verge  of  his  hoped-for  triumph. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  sentiments  and  impres- 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  63 

sions  of  which  M.  de  Petigny  read  afterwards  in 
Balzac's  books  seemed  to  him  only  a  pale,  distant  echo 
of  the  rich  and  vivid  expressions  which  fell  from  his 
lips  in  these  intimate  talks.  Magnetism,  in  which  he 
had  a  strong  faith  all  his  life,  was  exercising  his 
thoughts  greatly.  It  was  "the  irresistible  ascen- 
dency of  mind  over  matter,  of  a  strong  and  immov- 
able will  over  a  soul  open  to  all  impressions."1 
Before  long  he  would  have  mastered  its  secrets, 
and  would  be  able  to  compel  every  man  to  obey  him 
and  every  woman  to  love  him.  He  had  already,  he 
announced,  begun  to  occupy  his  fixed  position  in  life, 
and  was  on  the  threshold  of  a  millennium. 

Balzac's  glimpses  of  society  were,  however,  rare, 
and  ceased  altogether  during  the  last  few  months  of 
his  stay  in  the  Rue  Lesdiguieres.  However,  other 
more  satisfying  pleasures  were  his:  "Unspeakable 
joys  are  showered  on  us  by  the  exertion  of  our  mental 
faculties;  the  quest  of  ideas,  and  the  tranquil  con- 
templation of  knowledge;  delights  indescribable, 
because  purely  intellectual  and  impalpable  to  our 
senses.  So  we  are  obliged  to  use  material  terms  to 
express  the  mysteries  of  the  soul.  The  pleasure  of 
striking  out  in  some  lonely  lake  of  clear  water,  with 
forests,  rocks,  and  flowers  around,  and  the  soft  stir- 
ring of  the  warm  breeze — all  this  would  give  to  those 
who  knew  them  not  a  very  faint  idea  of  the  exulta- 
tion with  which  my  soul  bathed  itself  in  the  beams  of 
an  unknown  light,  hearkened  to  the  awful  and  uncer- 
tain voice  of  inspiration,  as  vision  upon  vision  poured 

1  Article  by  M.  Jules  de  Petigny. 


64  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

from  some  unknown  source  through  my  throbbing 
brain." 1 

There  is  another  side  to  the  picture,  and  perhaps 
in  this  description,  written  in  1830,  Balzac  has 
slightly  antedated  his  joy  in  his  creative  powers,  and 
describes  more  correctly  his  feelings  when  he  wrote 
"Les  Chouans,"  "La  Maison  du  Chat-qui-pelote," 
and  the  "  Peau  de  Chagrin  "  itself,  than  those  of  this 
earlier  period  of  his  life,  when  the  difficulties  of 
expressing  himself  so  often  seemed  insurmountable, 
and  the  hiatus  between  his  ideas  and  the  form  in 
wrhich  to  clothe  them  was  almost  impossible  to  bridge 
over. 

Writing  did  not  at  any  time  come  easily  to  him, 
and  "  Stella  "  and  "  Coqsigrue,"  his  first  novels,  were 
never  finished;  while  a  comedy,  "Les  Deux  Philo- 
sophes,"  was  also  abandoned  in  despair.  Next  he  set 
to  work  at  "  Cromwell,"  a  tragedy  in  five  acts,  which 
was  to  be  his  passport  to  fame.  At  this  play  he 
laboured  for  months,  shutting  himself  up  completely, 
and  loving  his  self-imposed  slavery — though  his  want 
of  faculty  for  versification,  and  the  intense  difficulty 
lie  experienced  in  finding  words  for  the  ideas  which 
crowded  into  his  imaginative  brain,  were  decided 
drawbacks.  While  engaged  on  this  work  he  may 
indeed  have  experienced  some  of  the  feelings  he  de- 
scribes in  the  "Peau  de  Chagrin,"  quoted  above;  for, 
curiously  enough,  "  Cromwell,"  his  first  finished  pro- 
duction, was  the  only  one  of  his  early  works  about 
which  he  was  deceived,  and  which  he  imagined  to  be 

1 "  La  Peau  de  Chagrin,"  by  Honor£  de  Balzac. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  65 

a  chef  d'oeuvre.  It  was  well  he  had  this  happy  faith 
to  sustain  him,  as,  according  to  the  account  of  M. 
Jules  de  Petigny,  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
play  was  composed  must,  to  put  the  matter  mildly, 
have  been  distinctly  depressing. 

This  gentleman  says:  "I  entered  a  narrow  garret, 
furnished  with  a  bottomless  chair,  a  rickety  table  and 
a  miserable  pallet  bed,  with  two  dirty  curtains  half 
drawn  round  it.  On  the  table  were  an  inkstand,  a 
big  copybook  scribbled  all  over,  a  jug  of  lemonade,  a 
glass,  and  a  morsel  of  bread.  The  heat  in  this 
wretched  hole  was  stifling,  and  one  breathed  a  me- 
phitic  air  which  would  have  given  cholera,  if  cholera 
had  then  been  invented! "  Balzac  was  in  bed,  with  a 
cotton  cap  of  problematic  colour  on  his  head.  '  You 
see,"  he  said,  "  the  abode  I  have  not  left  except  once 
for  two  months — the  evening  when  you  met  me. 
During  all  this  time  I  have  not  got  up  from  the  bed 
where  I  work  at  the  great  work,  for  the  sake  of  which 
I  have  condemned  myself  to  this  hermit's  life,  and 
which  happily  I  have  just  finished,  for  my  powers 
have  come  to  an  end."  It  must  have  been  during 
these  last  months  in  his  garret,  when  he  neglected 
everything  for  his  projected  masterpiece,  that,  cov- 
ered with  vermin  from  the  dirt  of  his  room,  he  would 
creep  out  in  the  evening  to  buy  a  candle,  which,  as  he 
possessed  no  candlestick,  he  would  put  in  an  empty 
bottle. 

The  almost  insane  ardour  for  and  absorption  in 
his  work,  which  were  his  salient  characteristics,  had 
already  possession  of  him;  and  we  see  that  he 


66  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

laboured  as  passionately  now  for  fame  and  for  love  of 
his  art,  as  he  did  later  on,  when  the  struggle  to  free 
himself  from  debt,  and  to  gain  a  home  and  womanly 
companionship,  were  additional  incentives  to  effort. 
At  the  time  of  which  M.  de  Petigny  speaks,  how- 
ever, his  troubles  appeared  to  be  over,  as  the  master- 
piece for  which  he  had  suffered  so  much  was  com- 
pleted; and  joyfully  confident  that  triumph  awaited 
him,  Honore  took  it  home  with  him  to  Villeparisis 
at  the  end  of  April,  1820.  He  was  so  certain,  poor 
fellow,  of  success,  that  he  had  specially  begged  that 
among  those  invited  to  the  reading  of  the  tragedy 
should  be  the  insulting  person  who  told  his  father 
fifteen  months  before  that  he  was  fit  for  nothing  but 
a  post  as  copying  clerk. 


CHAPTER  IV 

1820—1828 


Reading    of    '  '  Cromwell  '  '  —  Balzac  is  obliged  to  live  at  home  — 

Unhappiness  —  Writes   romantic    novels  —  Friendship    with 

Madame  de  Berny  —  Starts  in  Paris  as  publisher  and 

afterwards  as  printer  —  Impending  bankruptcy 

only  prevented  'by  help  from    his  par- 

ents and  Madame  de  Berny 

EVIDENTLY  Balzac's  happy  faith  in  the  beauty  of 
"Cromwell"  had  impressed  his  parents,  as,  appar- 
ently without  having  seen,  the  play,  they  had  as- 
sembled a  large  concourse  of  friends  for  the  reading  ; 
and  between  happy  pride  in  his  boy's  genius,  and 
satisfaction  at  his  own  acuteness  in  discerning  it,  old 
M.  de  Balzac  was  no  doubt  nearly  as  joyous  as 
Honore  himself.  The  Balzac  family  were  prepared 
for  triumph,  the  friends  were  amused  or  incredulous, 
and  the  solemn  trial  began.  *  The  tragedy,  strongly 
Royalist  in  principles,  opens,  according  to  the  plot  as 
given  by  Balzac  in  a  letter  to  his  sister,  2  with  the  en- 
trance of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  into  Westminster. 
She  is  utterly  exhausted,  and,  disguised  in  humble 

JThe  original  MS.,  beautifully  written  out  and  tied  with  faded  blue 
ribbon,  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 
a"  Honor6  de  Balzac—  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  28. 

67 


68  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

garments,  has  returned  from  taking  her  children  for 
safety  into  Holland,  and  from  begging  for  the  help 
of  the  King  of  France.  Strafford,  in  tears,  tells  her 
of  late  events,  and  of  the  King's  imprisonment  and 
future  trial;  but  during  this  conversation  Cromwell 
and  Ireton  enter,  and  the  Queen,  in  terror,  hides 
behind  a  tomb,  till,  horrified  at  the  discussion  as  to 
whether  or  no  the  King  shall  be  put  to  death,  she 
comes  out,  and,  as  Balzac  remarks,  "makes  them  a 
famous  discourse."  Act  II.  sounds  a  little  dull, 
though  no  doubt  it  is  highly  instructive,  as  a  great 
part  of  it  is  taken  up  with  a  monologue  by  the  King 
detailing  the  events  of  his  past  reign.  Later  on 
Charles,  instead  of  keeping  Cromwell's  son,  who  has 
fallen  into  his  hands,  as  a  hostage  for  his  own  life, 
gives  him  up  to  his  father  without  condition;  but 
Cromwell,  unmoved  by  this  generosity,  still  plots  for 
his  King's  death.  The  fifth  Act,  which  Balzac  re- 
marks is  the  most  difficult  of  all,  opens  with  a  scene  in 
which  the  King  tells  the  Queen  his  last  wishes,  which 
Balzac  interpolates  with  (Quelle  scene!)  ;  then  Straf- 
ford informs  the  King  of  his  condemnation  (Quelle 
scene!)  ;  the  King  and  Queen  say  good-bye — (Quelle 
scene!)  again;  and  the  play  ends  with  the  Queen 
vowing  eternal  vengeance  upon  England,  declaring 
that  enemies  will  rise  everywhere  against  her,  and 
that  one  day  France  will  fight  against  her,  conquer 
her,  and  crush  her. 

Honore  began  his  reading  with  the  utmost  enthu- 
siasm, modulating  his  sonorous  voice  to  suit  the  dif- 
ferent characters,  and  even  contriving  for  a  time  to 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  69 

impart  by  his  expressive  reading  a  fictitious  interest 
to  the  dull,  tedious  tragedy.  Gradually,  however, 
the  feeling  of  disappointment  and  boredom  among 
his  audience  communicated  itself  to  him.  He  lost 
confidence;  his  beautiful  reading  began  to  decline  in 
pathos  and  interest ;  and  when  at  last  he  finished,  and, 
glancing  at  the  downcast  faces  round  him,  found  that 
even  Laure  could  not  look  up  at  him  with  a  smile  of 
congratulation,  he  felt  a  chill  at  his  heart,  and  knew 
that  he  had  not  triumphed  after  all.  Nevertheless,  he 
very  naturally  rebelled  against  the  strongly  expressed 
adverse  judgment  of  his  enemy  of  the  copying-clerk 
proposal,  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to  appeal  to  a 
competent  and  impartial  critic.  To  this  request  his 
father  assented,  and  M.  Surville,  who  was  now 
engaged  to  Laure,  proposed  that  M.  Andrieux,  of 
the  Academic  Fran9aise,  formerly  his  own  master  at 
the  Ecole  Polytechnique,  should  be  asked  to  give  an 
opinion.  Honore,  his  sister  says,  "  accepted  this  lit- 
erary elder  as  sovereign  judge,"  no  doubt  hoping 
against  hope  that  a  really  cultured  man  would  see 
those  beauties  which  were  unfortunately  hidden  from 
the  eyes  of  the  unintellectual  inhabitants  of  Ville- 
parisis.  However,  the  verdict  of  M.  Andrieux  was,  if 
possible,  more  crushing  than  any  of  the  events  which 
had  preceded  it.  In  the  honest  opinion  of  this 
expert,  the  author  of  "Cromwell"  ought  to  do 
anything,  no  matter  what,  except  literature. 

Honore  had  asked  for  an  impartial  judgment,  and 
had  promised  to  abide  by  it.  His  discomfiture  and 
sense  of  failure  ought  therefore  to  have  been  com- 


70  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

plete.  Genius  does  not,  however,  follow  the  ordi- 
nary road ;  and  with  the  mixture  of  pluck,  confidence 
in  himself,  and  pride  which  always  characterised  him, 
Honore  did  not  allow  that  he  was  beaten,  and  would 
not  show  the  feelings  of  grief  and  disappointment 
which  must  have  filled  his  heart.  "  Tragedies  are  not 
my  line" — that  is  all  he  said;  and  if  he  had  been 
allowed  to  follow  his  own  bent,  he  would  at  once 
have  returned  to  his  garret,  and  have  begun  to  write 
again  with  unabated  ardour. 

Naturally,  however,  the  Balzac  family  refused  to 
allow  him  to  continue  the  course  of  senseless  folly 
which  was  already  beginning  to  ruin  his  health. 
Madame  de  Balzac  was  specially  strong  on  this  point ; 
and  though  he  had  only  been  allowed  fifteen  months, 
instead  of  the  two  years  promised  for  his  trial,  she  in- 
sisted that  he  should  come  home  at  once,  and  remain 
under  the  maternal  eye.  Indeed,  this  seemed  quite 
necessary  after  the  privations  he  had  gone  through. 
His  sufferings  never  made  him  thin  at  any  period  of 
his  life;  but  now  his  face  was  pale  and  his  eyes  hol- 
low, and  his  lifelong  friend,  Dr.  Nacquart,  sent  him 
at  once  to  recruit  in  the  air  of  his  native  Touraine. 

After  this  followed  a  time  of  bitter  trial  for  poor 
Honore.  His  sister  Laure  married  M.  Surville  in 
May,  1820,  about  a  month  after  his  return  home,  and 
went  to  live  at  Bayeux,  so  that  he  was  deprived  of  her 
congenial  companionship ;  and,  in  spite  of  his  fun  and 
buoyancy,  his  letters  to  her  show  his  extreme 
wretchedness.  Years  afterwards  he  told  the 
Duchesse  d'Abrantes  that  the  cruel  weight  of  com- 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  71 

pulsion  under  which  he  was  crushed  till  1822  made 
his  struggles  for  existence,  when  once  he  was  free, 
seem  comparatively  light.  Continually  worried  by  his 
nervous,  irritable  mother,  deprived  of  independence, 
of  leisure,  of  quiet,  he  saw  his  dreams  of  future 
fame  vanish  like  smoke,  and  the  hated  lawyer's 
office  become  a  certainty,  if  he  failed  to  make  money 
by  writing.  In  deadly  fear  of  this,  and  with  the 
paralysing  consciousness  that  his  present  circum- 
stances were  peculiarly  unpropitious  as  a  literary 
education,  he  rebelled  against  the  hard  fate  which 
denied  him  opportunity  to  work  for  fame.  "  Laure, 
Laure,"  he  cries  at  this  time,  "my  two  only  and 
immense  desires — to  be  loved  and  to  be  celebrated — 
will  they  ever.be  satisfied?  " 

Whatever  his  aspirations  might  be,  it  was  necessary 
that  he  should  do  something  to  support  himself,  as 
his  parents  firmly  refused  to  grant  him  the  1,500 
francs — about  £60 — a  year  for  which  he  begged,  to 
enable  him  to  live  in  Paris  and  to  carry  out  his  voca- 
tion. He  was  therefore  obliged  to  write  at  his  home 
at  Villeparisis  in  the  midst  of  distractions  and  dis- 
couragements. In  these  unpropitious  circumstances 
he  produced  in  five  years — with  different  collabo- 
rators, whose  names  are  now  rescued  from  absolute 
oblivion  by  their  transitory  connection  with  him — 
eight  novels  in  thirty-one  volumes.  That  he  man- 
aged to  find  a  publisher  for  most  of  these  novels,  and 
to  make  £40,  £60,  or  £80  out  of  each,  is,  according 
to  his  sister,  a  remarkable  proof  of  his  strength  of 
will,  and  also  of  his  power  of  fascination.  The  pay- 


72  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

ment  generally  took  the  form  of  a  bill  payable  at 
some  distant  period — a  form  of  receiving  money 
which  does  not  seem  very  satisfying;  but  at  any  rate 
Balzac  could  prove  to  his  family  that  he  was  earning 
something,  and  was  himself  cheered  by  his  small  suc- 
cesses. We  can  imagine  his  feverish  anxiety,  and 
the  cunning  with  which  he  would  exert  every  wile  to 
induce  the  publisher — himself  a  struggling  man — to 
accept  his  wares,  when  he  knew  that  a  refusal  would 
mean  mingled  scoffs  and  lamentations  at  home,  and 
possibly  a  menace  that  not  much  longer  leisure  would 
be  allowed  him  for  idling.  There  is  pathos  in  the 
fate  of  one  whose  genius  is  unrecognised  till  his  day 
on  earth  is  over,  but  far  harder  seems  the  lot  of  the 
man  who  longs  and  struggles,  feeling  that  the  power 
is  in  him,  and  who  yet,  by  some  strange  gulf  between 
thought  and  expression,  can  only  produce  what  he 
knows  to  be  worthless.  It  speaks  much  for  Balzac's 
courage,  patience,  and  determination,  or  perhaps  for 
the  intuitive  force  of  a  genius  which  refused  to  be 
denied  outlet,  that  he  struggled  through  this  weary 
time,  and  in  spite  of  opposition  kept  to  his  fixed  pur- 
pose of  becoming  a  writer. 

These  early  works — "L'Heritiere  de  Birague," 
"  Jean-Louis,"  "  Le  Centenaire,"  "  Le  Vicaire  des 
Ardennes,"  "La  Derniere  Fee,"  "Wann  Chlore," 
and  others,  published  in  1822  and  the  three  following 
years — were  written  under  the  pseudonyms  of  Lord 
R'hoone,  Viellergle,  and  Horace  de  Saint- Aubin,  and 
are  generally  wild  tales  of  adventure  in  the  style  of 
Mrs.  Radcliffe.  Though  occasionally  the  reader 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  73 

comes  across  a  paragraph  faintly  reminiscent  of  the 
Balzac  of  later  years,  these  youthful  attempts  are 
certainly  not  worthy  of  the  great  man  who  wrote 
them,  and  he  consistently  refused  to  acknowledge 
their  authorship.  The  two  first,  "L'Heritiere  de 
Birague"  and  "Jean-Louis,"  were  written  with  the 
collaboration  of  M.  Auguste  le  Poitevin  de  1'Egre- 
ville,  who  took  the  name  of  Viellergle,  while  Balzac 
adopted  that  of  Lord  R'hoone,  an  anagram  of 
Honore,  so  that  these  two  novels  are  signed  with  both 
pseudonyms. 1  It  is  amusing  to  find  that  the  sage 
Honore,  in  1820,  prudently  discourages  a  passing 
fancy  on  the  part  of  his  sister  Laurence  for  his  col- 
laborator, by  remarking  that  writers  are  very  bad 
partis,  though  he  hastens  to  add  that  he  only  means 
this  from  a  pecuniary  point  of  view!  Laure,  at 
Bayeux,  is  made  useful  as  an  amateur  advertising 
agent,  and  is  carefully  told  that,  though  she  is  to  talk 
about  the  novels  a  great  deal,  she  is  never  to  lend  her 
copies  to  any  one,  because  people  must  buy  the  books 
to  read  them.  "  L'Heritiere  "  brought  in  about  £32, 
and  "Jean-Louis"  £53,  unfortunately  both  in  bills 
at  long  date;  but  it  was  the  first  money  Honore  had 
ever  earned,  and  he  was  naturally  excited.  However, 
with  "  La  Derniere  Fee  "  he  was  not  so  fortunate,  as 
both  versions — one  of  which  appeared  in  1823  and 
the  other  in  1824 — were  published  at  his  own  cost. 
Nevertheless,  he  has  no  illusions  about  the  worth  of 
his  books,  "L'Heritiere"  being,  he  says,  a  "veri- 

1  See  "  Une  Page  Perdue  de  HonorS  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de 
Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


74  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

table  cochonnerie  litteraire,"  while  "  Jean-Louis  "  has 
"several  rather  funny  jokes,  and  some  not  bad  at- 
tempts at  character,  but  a  detestable  plot." 

In  the  same  year,  1822,  he  writes  one  of  his  droll, 
beseeching  letters  to  beg  M.  and  Mme.  Surville  to 
help  him  out  of  a  great  difficulty,  and  to  write  one 
volume  of  "  Le  Vicaire  des  Ardennes  "  while  he  writes 
the  other,  and  afterwards  fits  the  two  together.  The 
matter  is  most  important,  as  he  has  promised  Pollet 
to  have  two  novels,  "  Le  Vicaire  "  and  "  Le  Savant " 
— the  latter  we  never  hear  of  again — ready  by  Octo- 
ber 1st.  It  is  necessary  to  be  specially  quick  about 
"Le  Vicaire,"  partly  because  Auguste,  his  collabo- 
rator, is  writing  a  novel  of  the  same  name,  and  Bal- 
zac's production  must  come  out  first,  and  also  for  the 
joyful  reason  that  he  will  actually  receive  £24  in 
ready  money  for  the  two  books,  the  further  <£56  fol- 
lowing in  bills  payable  at  eight  months.  What  do 
the  Survilles  think  about  it?  He  throws  himself  on 
their  generosity,  though  he  is  afraid  Laure  will  never 
manage  to  write  sixty  pages  of  a  novel  every  day. 
Apparently  the  Survilles,  or  at  least  M.  Surville— 
for  it  is  certain  that  the  devoted  Laure  would  have 
worked  herself  to  death  to  help  Honore — did  not  see 
their  way  to  proceeding  at  this  rate  of  composition, 
as  the  next  letter  from  Balzac,  written  on  August 
20th,  is  full  of  reproaches  because  the  manuscript  has 
not  been  at  once  returned  to  him,  that  he  may  go  on 
with  it  himself.  Perhaps  this  want  of  help  prevented 
the  carrying  out  of  the  contract,  and  was  the  reason 
that  the  world  has  not  been  enriched  by  the  appear- 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC          .     75 

ance  of  "Le  Savant."  Honore,  however,  judging 
by  his  next  letter,  did  not  bear  malice:  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  make  continual  requests,  reasonable  and 
sometimes  very  unreasonable,  to  his  family;  and  the 
large  good-humour  which  was  one  of  the  foundations 
of  his  robust  character,  prevented  him  from  showing 
any  irritation  when  they  were  refused. 

From  1821  to  1824  he  wrote  thirty-one  volumes, 
and  it  is  an  extraordinary  proof  of  his  versatility, 
that  in  1824,  in  the  midst  of  the  production  of  these 
romantic  novels,  he  published  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"Du  Droit  d'Ainesse,"  which  argues  with  singular 
force,  logic,  and  erudition  against  the  revolutionary 
and  Napoleonic  theories  on  the  division  of  property; 
and  a  small  volume  entitled  "  Histoire  impartiale 
des  Jesuites,"  which  is  an  impassioned  defence  of 
religion  and  the  monarchy.  "  The  Bourbons  are  the 
preservers  of  the  sublime  religion  of  Christ,  and  they 
have  never  betrayed  the  trust  which  confided  Chris- 
tianity to  them,"  he  cries.  No  one  reading  these 
political  essays  would  think  it  likely  that  they  were 
the  work  of  the  romantic  writer  of  "La  Derniere 
Fee  "  or  "  Argow  the  Pirate,"  which  were  employing 
Balzac's  pen  at  the  same  time. 

Young  men  are  often  very  severe  critics  of  the 
doings  of  their  family;  and  Balzac,  cursed  with  the 
sensitiveness  of  genius,  and  smarting  under  the  bitter 
disappointment  of  disillusionment  and  of  thwarted 
and  compressed  powers,  was  not  likely  to  be  an  indul- 
gent critic;  but  making  due  allowance  for  these  facts, 
it  does  not  appear  that  his  home  was  a  particularly 


76  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

comfortable  place  at  this  time.  Old  M.  de  Balzac 
was  as  placid  as  an  Egyptian  pyramid  and  peren- 
nially cheerful;  but  the  restless  Madame  de  Balzac 
was  now  following  in  the  footsteps  of  her  nervous 
mother  and  becoming  a  malade  imaginaire.  This  did 
not  add  to  the  comfort  of  her  family,  while  the  small 
excitements  she  roused  perpetually  were  peculiarly 
trying  to  her  eldest  son,  who  was  himself  not  of  a 
placid  nature. 

However,  there  were  compensations,  though  the 
discreet  Honore  does  not  mention  these  in  his  letters 
to  Laure,  as  in  1821  his  friendship  with  Madame  de 
Berny  began,  and  only  ceased  in  1836  with  her  death, 
which,  in  spite  of  his  affection  for  Madame  Hanska, 
was  a  lifelong  sorrow  to  him.  One  of  Honore's 
home  duties  was  to  act  as  tutor  to  his  younger  brother 
Henry — the  spoilt  child  of  the  family — who,  owing 
to  supposed  delicacy,  was  educated  at  home;  and  as 
the  Bernys  lived  near  Villeparisis,  it  was  arranged 
that  he  should  at  the  same  time  give  lessons  to  one  of 
M.  and  Madame  de  Berny's  boys.  This  may  have 
helped  to  bring  about  the  intimacy  between  the  two 
houses,  and  Honore  was  struck  by  Madame  de 
Berny's  patience  and  sweetness  to  a  morose  husband 
many  years  older  than  herself.  Later  on,  the  Bernys 
left  the  neighbourhood  of  Villeparisis,  and  divided 
their  time  between  the  village  of  Saint-Firmin,  near 
Chantilly,  and  Paris;  and  Balzac  occasionally  paid 
them  visits  in  the  country,  and  saw  Madame  de  Berny 
continually  in  Paris.  She  was  twenty-two  years 
older  than  Honore,  and  no  doubt  supplied  the  ele- 


RODIN'S  STATUE  OF  HONORK  DE  BALZAC 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  77 

ment  of  motherliness  which  was  conspicuously  absent 
in  Madame  de  Balzac. 

She  is  a  gentle  and 'pathetic  figure,  the  woman  who 
understood  Balzac  as  Madame  Hanska  did  not;  who 
made  light  of  her  troubles  and  sufferings  for  fear  of 
grieving  him  in  the  midst  of  his  own  struggles;  and 
who,  while  performing  her  duties  conscientiously  as 
devoted  wife  and  mother,  for  twelve  years  gave  up 
two  hours  every  day  to  his  society.  She  lent  him 
money,  interceded  with  his  parents  on  his  behalf,  cor- 
rected his  proofs,  acted  as  a  severe  and  candid 
though  sympathetic  critic,  and  above  all  cheered  and 
encouraged  him,  and  prevented  him  from  commit- 
ting suicide  in  his  dark  days  of  distress.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  friendship  of  a  man  like  Balzac  must  have 
been  of  absorbing  interest  to  a  woman  of  great  deli- 
cacy of  feeling,  and  evidently  considerable  powers, 
whose  surroundings  were  uncongenial ;  and  his  warm 
and  enduring  affection  helped  her  to  tide  over  many 
of  the  troubles  of  a  sad  life. 

Recent  researches  have  discovered  several  interest- 
ing facts  about  the  origin  of  the  woman  to  whom 
may  be  ascribed  the  merit  of  "creating"  the  writer 
who  was  destined  to  exercise  so  great  an  influence  on 
his  own  and  succeeding  generations. 1  Curiously 
enough,  Louise  Antoinette  Laure  Hinner,  destined 
at  the  age  of  fifteen  years  and  ten  months  to  become 
Madame  de  Berny,  was,  like  Madame  Hanska,  a  for- 
eigner, being  the  daughter  of  Joseph  Hinner,  a  Ger- 

aSee  "Balzac,   Imprimeur,"  in  "La  Jeunesse  de  Balzac,"  by  MM. 
Hanotaux  et  Vicaire. 


78  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

man  musician,  who  was  brought  by  Turgot  to  France. 
Here  he  became  harpist  to  Marie  Antoinette,  and 
married  Madame  Quelpee  de  Laborde,  one  of  the 
Queen's  ladies  in  waiting.  Two  years  later,  on  May 
23rd,  1777,  the  future  Madame  de  Berny  came  into 
the  world,  and  made  her  debut  with  a  great  flourish 
of  trumpets,  Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette,  rep- 
resented by  the  Due  de  Fronsac  and  Laure  Auguste 
de  Fitz-James,  Princesse  de  Chimay,  being  her  god- 
parents. When  in  1784  her  father  died,  her  mother 
married  the  Chevalier  de  Jar j  ayes,  one  of  Marie  An- 
toinette's most  loyal  adherents  during  the  Revolution. 
It  was  he  who  conceived  the  project  of  carrying  off 
Louis  XVII.  from  the  Temple,  and  who  was  en- 
trusted with  the  precious  duty  of  carrying  the  seal, 
ring,  and  hair  belonging  to  the  Royal  Family  to  the 
exiled  Monsieur  and  Comte  d'Artois.1 

We  can  easily  see  whence  Balzac  derived  his  strong 
Royalist  principles — how  from  boyhood  the  lessons 
taught  him  by  his  masters,  M.  Lepitre  and  M.  Guil- 
lonnet  de  Merville,  would  be  insisted  on,  only  with 
much  greater  effect  and  insistence,  by  this  charming 
woman  of  the  world.  Her  mother,  still  living,  had 
passed  her  time  in  the  disturbed  and  exciting  atmos- 
phere of  plots  and  counterplots;  and  she  herself 
could  tell  him  story  after  story  of  heartrending  trag- 
edies and  of  hairbreadth  escapes,  which  had  happened 
to  her  own  relations  and  friends.  From  her  he 
acquired  those  aristocratic  longings  which  always 

^ee  "Balzac,   Imprimeur,"  in  "La  Jeunesse  de  Balzac,"  by  MM- 
Hanotaux  et  Vicaire. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  79 

characterised  him,  and  through  her  influence  he  made 
acquaintance  with  several  people  of  high  position 
and  importance,  and  thus  was  enabled  to  make  an 
occasional  appearance  in  the  beau-monde  of  Paris. 

Her  portrait  gives  the  idea  of  an  elegant  rather 
than  pretty  woman,  with  a  long  neck,  sloping  shoul- 
ders, black  curls  on  the  temples,  at  each  side  of  a  high 
forehead,  and  large,  languishing  dark  eyes,  under 
pencilled  eyebrows.  The  oval  face  has  a  character 
of  gentle  melancholy,  and  there  is  something  subdued 
and  suffering  in  the  whole  expression  which  invites 
our  pity.  She  wears  in  the  portrait  an  Empire  dress, 
confined  under  the  arms  by  a  yellow  ribbon. 

"  La  dilecta,"  as  Balzac  calls  her,  cannot  have  been 
a  very  happy  woman.  Of  her  nine  children,  watched 
with  the  most  tender  solicitude,  only  four  lived  to 
grow  up;  and  of  these  her  favourite  son,  "beautiful 
as  the  day,  like  her,  tender  and  spiritual,  like  her,  full 
of  noble  sentiments,"  as  Balzac  says,  died  the  year 
before  her;  and  only  an  insane  daughter  and  a  wild, 
unsatisfactory  son  survived  her.  This  terrible  blow 
broke  her  heart,  and  she  shut  herself  up  and  refused 
to  see  even  Balzac  during  the  last  year  of  her  life. 
The  end  must  at  any  rate  have  been  peaceful,  as,  in 
order  to  prolong  her  existence  as  much  as  possible, 
it  had  been  found  necessary  to  separate  her  from  the 
irritable  husband  with  whose  vagaries  she  had  borne 
patiently  during  thirty  tedious  years;  but  perhaps 
she  was  sorry  in  the  end  that  this  was  necessary. 
Madame  de  Mortsauf ,  in  the  "  Lys  dans  la  Vallee," 
is  intended  to  be  a  portrait  of  her,  though  Balzac 


80 

says  that  he  has  only  managed  to  give  a  faint  re- 
flection of  her  perfections.  However  this  may  be, 
Henriette  de  Mortsauf  is  a  charming  and  ethereal 
creation,  and  from  her  we  can  understand  the  fas- 
cination Madame  de  Berny  exerted  over  Balzac,  and 
can  realise  that,  as  he  says  to  Madame  Hanska,  her 
loss  could  never  be  made  up  to  him.  It  is  possible 
also  to  sympathise  with  the  feeling,  perhaps  unac- 
knowledged even  to  himself,  which  peeps  out  in  a 
letter  to  Madame  Hanska  in  1840.1  In  this  he 
reproaches  his  correspondent  for  her  littleness  in  not 
writing  to  him  because  he  cannot  answer  her  letters 
quickly,  and  tells  her  that  he  has  lately  been  in  such 
straits  that  he  has  not  been  able  to  pay  for  franking 
his  letters,  and  has  several  times  eaten  a  roll  on  the 
Boulevards  for  his  dinner.  He  goes  on:  "Ah!  I 
implore  you,  do  not  make  comparisons  between  your- 
self and  Madame  de  Berny.  She  was  of  infinite 
goodness  and  of  absolute  devotion;  she  was  what  she 
was.  You  are  complete  on  your  side  as  she  on  hers. 
One  never  compares  two  great  things.  They  are  what 
they  are."  Certainly  Balzac  never  found  a  second 
Madame  de  Berny. 

From  1822  to  1824  we  know  little  of  Balzac's  his- 
tory, except  that  he  passed  the  time  at  home,  and  was 
presumably  working  hard  at  his  romantic  novels ;  but 
in  1824  a  change  came,  one  no  doubt  hailed  at  the 
time  with  eager  delight,  though  it  proved  unfortu- 
nately to  be  the  foundation  of  all  his  subsequent 
misfortunes. 

1 "  Lettres  a  1'fitrangfere." 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  81 

When  he  went  up  to  Paris  to  make  arrangements 
for  publishing  his  novels,  he  stayed  in  the  old  lodg- 
ings of  his  family  in  the  Rue  du  Roi  Dore,  and  here 
he  often  met  a  friend,  M.  d'Assonvillez,  to  whom  he 
confided  his  fear  of  being  forced  into  an  occupation 
distasteful  to  him.  M.  d'Assonvillez  was  sympa- 
thetic, advised  him  to  seek  for  a  business  which  would 
make  him  independent,  and,  carried  away  by  Hon- 
ore's  powers  of  persuasion  and  eloquence,  actually 
promised  to  provide  the  necessary  funds.  We  can 
imagine  Balzac's  joy  at  this  offer,  and  the  enthusiasm 
with  which  he  would  take  up  his  abode  in  Paris,  and 
feel  that  he  was  about  to  earn  his  living,  nay,  more, 
that  he  would  no  doubt  become  enormously  rich,  and 
would  then  have  leisure  to  give  up  his  time  to  litera- 
ture. What,  however,  decided  him  to  become  first  pub- 
lisher and  then  printer  we  do  not  know.  He  started 
his  publishing  campaign  with  the  idea  of  bringing 
out  compact  editions  of  the  complete  works  of  dif- 
ferent authors  in  one  volume,  and  began  with  Moliere 
and  La  Fontaine,  carrying  on  the  two  publications 
at  the  same  time,  for  fear  of  competition  if  his  secret 
should  be  discovered.  The  idea,  which  had  already 
been  thought  of  by  Urbain  Canel,  was  a  good  one; 
but  unfortunately  Balzac  was  not  able  to  obtain  sup- 
port from  the  trade,  and  had  not  sufficient  capital 
for  advertising.  Therefore  by  the  end  of  the  year 
not  twenty  copies  were  sold,  and  he  lost  15,000  francs 
on  this  affair  alone.  Consequently,  in  order  to  save 
the  rent  of  the  warehouse  in  which  the  books  were 
stored,  he  was  obliged  to  part  with  all  the  precious 


82  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

compact  editions  for  the  price  by  weight  of  the  paper 
on  which  they  were  printed. 

Matters  now  looked  very  black,  as  Balzac  owed 
about  70,000  francs;  but  M.  d'Assonvillez  was  evi- 
dently much  impressed  by  his  business  capacity,  and 
was  naturally  anxious  to  be  repaid  the  money  he 
had  lent.  He  therefore  introduced  Honore  to  a 
relation  who  was  making  a  large  fortune  by  his 
printing-press;  and  Balzac,  full  of  enthusiasm, 
dreamt  of  becoming  a  second  Richardson,  and  of  com- 
bining the  occupations  of  author  and  printer.  His 
father  was  persuaded  to  provide  the  necessary  funds, 
and  handed  him  over  30,000  francs — about  <£l,200— 
with  which  to  start  the  enterprise.  In  August,  1826, 
Balzac  began  again  joyously,  first  by  himself  and 
afterwards  with  a  partner  named  Barbier,  whom  he 
had  noticed  as  foreman  in  one  of  the  printing-offices 
to  which  he  had  taken  his  novels.  Unfortunately  a 
printing-license  cost  15,000  francs  in  the  time  of 
Charles  X.;  and  when  this  had  been  paid,  Barbier 
had  received  a  bonus  of  12,000  francs,  and  15,000 
francs  had  been  spent  on  the  necessary  materials, 
there  remained  very  little  capital  with  which  to  meet 
the  current  expenses  of  the  undertaking.  Neverthe- 
less, the  young  partners  started  full  of  hope,  having 
bought  from  Laurent  for  30,000  francs  the  premises 
at  No.  7  Rue  des  Marais  Saint- Germain,  now  the 
Rue  Visconti,  a  street  so  narrow  that  two  vehicles 
cannot  pass  in  it.  A  wooden  staircase  with  an  iron 
handrail  led  from  a  dark  passage  to  the  large  bar- 
rack-like hall  they  occupied;  an  abode  which  Balzac 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  83 

tried  to  beautify,  possibly  for  Madame  de  Berny's 
visits,  by  hangings  of  blue  calico. 

There  Balzac  developed  quickly.  He  learnt  the 
struggle  of  a  business  life,  the  duel  between  man 
and  man,  through  which  thousands  pass  without 
gaining  anything  except  business  acuteness,  but 
which  introduced  the  great  psychologist  to  hundreds 
of  new  types,  and  showed  to  his  keen,  observant  eyes 
man,  not  in  society  or  domesticity,  but  in  undress, 
righting  for  life  itself,  or  for  all  that  makes  life 
worth  living.  In  the  Rue  de  Lesdiguieres  he  had 
struggled  with  himself,  striving  in  cold  and  hunger 
to  gain  the  mastery  of  his  art.  Here  he  battled  with 
others;  and  since,  except  on  paper,  he  never  pos- 
sessed business  capacity,  he  failed  and  went  under, 
but  by  his  defeat  he  paved  the  way  to  future  triumph. 
He  passed  through  an  experience  possibly  unique  in 
the  career  of  a  man  of  letters,  one  which  imparts  the 
peculiar  flavour  of  business,  money,  and  affairs  to  his 
books,  and  which  fixed  on  him  for  all  his  days  the 
impression  of  restless,  passionate,  thronging  humanity 
which  he  pictures  in  his  books.  The  abyss  between 
his  early  romantic  novels  and  such  a  book  as  the 
"Peau  de  Chagrin"  is  immeasureable,  and  cannot 
altogether  be  accounted  for  by  any  teaching,  however 
valuable,  or  even  by  the  strong  influence  which  in- 
tercourse with  Madame  de  Berny  exercised.  Some- 
thing else  definite  must  have  happened  to  him — some 
great  opening  out  and  development,  which  caused  a 
sudden  appearance  on  the  surface  of  hitherto  latent, 
unworkable  powers.  This  forcing-process  took  place 


84  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

at  his  first  contact  with  the  war  of  life;  and  though 
he  bore  the  scars  of  the  encounter  as  long  as  he  lived, 
he  grew  by  its  clash,  ferment,  and  disaster  to  his  full 
stature.  In  "  La  Maison  du  Chat-qui-pelote,"  "  Illu- 
sions Perdues,"  and  "  Cesar  Birotteau  "  he  gives  dif- 
ferent phases  of  this  life,  spent  partly  in  the  printer's 
office  and  partly  in  the  streets,  rushing  anxiously  from 
place  to  place  and  from  person  to  person,  trying 
vainly  by  interviews  to  avert  the  impending  ruin. 

Matters  seemed,  however,  quite  hopeless ;  but  when, 
towards  the  end  of  1827,  an  opportunity  occurred  of 
becoming  possessed  of  a  type-foundry,  the  partners, 
perhaps  with  the  desperation  of  despair,  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  avail  themselves  of  it.  This  new  acquisition 
naturally  only  appeared  likely  to  precipitate  the 
catastrophe,  and  Barbier  prepared  to  leave  the  sink- 
ing ship.  At  this  juncture  Madame  de  Berny  came 
forward  with  substantial  help,  and  allowed  her  name 
to  appear  as  partner  in  his  place.  However,  even 
this  assistance  did  not  long  avert  disaster — bank- 
ruptcy was  impending,  and  Madame  de  Berny  and 
Laure  implored  Madame  de  Balzac  to  prevent  this. 
The  latter,  wishing  at  all  costs  to  keep  the  matter 
from  the  ears  of  her  husband,  now  a  very  old  man 
and  failing  in  health,  begged  a  cousin,  M.  Sedillot, 
to  come  forward,  and  at  least  to  save  the  honour  of 
the  family.  M.  Sedillot,  who  appears  to  have  been  a 
good  man  of  business,  at  once  set  gallantly  to  work 
to  disentangle  the  embroglio,  and  to  free  Honore 
from  its  meshes.  As  a  result  of  his  efforts,  the  print- 
ing-press was  sold  to  M.  Laurent,  and  the  type- 


85 

foundry  became  the  property  of  the  De  Bernys, 
under  whom  it  was  highly  successful.  At  the  same 
time,  to  save  Honor  e  from  disgrace,  Madame  de 
Balzac  lent  37,600  francs  and  Madame  de  Berny 
45,000,  the  latter  sum  being  paid  back  in  full  by 
Balzac  in  1836,  the  year  of  Madame  de  Berny's 
death.  "Without  her  I  should  be  dead,"  he  tells 
Madame  Hanska.  He  was  most  anxious  not  to  sell 
the  type-foundry,  and  his  parents  have  been  severely 
criticised  for  their  refusal  to  provide  further  funds 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  that  and  the  printing- 
office. 

This  blame  seems  a  little  unfair.  It  is  true  that, 
after  Balzac  had  been  obliged,  to  his  intense  grief, 
to  part  with  both  businesses  at  a  loss,  a  fortune  was 
made  out  of  the  type-foundry  alone.  But  the  Bal- 
zacs  had  lost  money,  and  had  their  other  children  to 
provide  for;  while  Honore,  though  well  equipped 
with  hope,  enthusiasm,  and  belief  in  himself,  had 
hitherto  failed  to  justify  a  trust  in  his  business  capac- 
ities. In  fact,  if  his  parents  had  been  endowed  with 
prophetic  eyesight,  and  had  been  enabled  to  take  a 
bird's-eye  view  of  their  celebrated  son's  future  enter- 
prises, which  were  always,  according  to  his  own 
account,  destined  to  fail  only  by  some  unfortunate 
slip  at  the  last,  it  seems  doubtful  whether  they  would 
have  been  wise  to  alter  the  course  they  adopted. 


Life  in  the  Rue  de  Tournon — Privations  and  despair — Friendships 
— Auguste  Borget — Madame  Carraud — The  Duchesse 
d'Abrantes — George  Sand,  etc. — "  La  Peau  de 
Chagrin ' '     and    the     ' '  Physiologic    du 
Mariage  " — His  right  to  be  enti- 
tled    "De     Balzac" 

IN  September,  1828,  before  the  final  winding  up  of 
affairs,  Balzac  had  fled  from  Paris,  and  had  gone  to 
spend  three  weeks  with  his  friends  the  Pommereuls 
in  Brittany.  There  he  began  to  write  "  Les  Chouans," 
the  first  novel  to  which  he  signed  his  name.  With 
his  usual  hopefulness,  dreams  of  future  fame  filled 
his  brain;  and  in  spite  of  his  misfortunes,  his  relief 
at  having  obtained  temporary  escape  from  his  dif- 
ficulties and  freedom  to  pursue  his  literary  career  was 
so  great,  that  his  jolly  laugh  often  resounded  in  the 
old  chateau  of  Fougeres.  It  was  certainly  a  remark- 
able case  of  buoyancy  of  temperament,  as  the  circum- 
stances in  which  he  found  himself  were  distinctly 
discouraging.  He  was  now  twenty-nine  years  old; 
he  owed  about  100,000  francs,  and  was  utterly  penni- 
less; while  his  reputation  for  commercial  capacity 
had  been  completely  destroyed.  His  most  pressing 

86 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  87 

liabilities  had  been  paid  by  his  mother,  who  was  all 
his  life  one  of  his  principal  creditors;  and  he  was 
now  firmly  under  the  yoke  of  that  heavy  burden  of 
debt  which  was  destined  never  again  to  be  lifted  from 
his  shoulders. 

Once  again,  as  they  had  done  nine  years  before, 
his  parents  cast  off  all  responsibility  for  their  un- 
satisfactory son.  They  had  saved  the  family  honour, 
which  would  have  been  compromised  by  his  bank- 
ruptcy; but  they  felt  that  they  had  now  per- 
formed their  duty,  and  that  whether  he  lived  or 
starved  was  his  own  affair.  His  position  was  in- 
finitely worse  than  it  had  been  in  those  early  days  in 
the  Rue  Lesdiguieres,  when  submission  would  have 
led  to  reinstatement  in  favour.  He  was  now,  as  he 
graphically  expressed  it,  "thrown  into"  the  Rue  de 
Tournon,1  and  apparently  no  provision  was  made 
for  his  wants.  His  parents,  who  had  moved  from 
Villeparisis  to  Versailles  the  year  before,  in  order  to 
be  near  Madame  Surville,  limited  their  interference 
in  his  affairs  to  severe  criticism  on  his  want  of  respect 
in  not  coming  to  see  his  family,  and  righteous  wrath 
at  his  extravagance  in  hanging  his  room  with  blue 
calico.  These  reproaches  he  parried  with  the  defence 
that  he  had  no  money  to  pay  omnibus  fares,  and  could 
not  even  write  often  because  of  the  expense  of  post- 
age; while  anent  the  muslin,  he  stated  that  he  pos- 
sessed it  before  his  failure,  as  La  Touche  and  he  had 
nailed  it  up  to  hide  a  frightful  paper  on  the  walls  of 
the  printing-office.  Uncrushed  by  the  scathing  com- 

1  He  says  himself  "  Rue  Cassini,"  but  this  is  a  mistake. 


88  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

ments  on  his  attempts  at  decoration,  curious  though 
characteristic  efforts  on  the  part  of  a  starving  man, 
he  writes  to  his  sister  a  few  days  later :  "  Ah,  Laure, 
if  you  did  but  know  how  passionately  I  desire  (but, 
hush!  keep  the  secret)  two  blue  screens  embroidered 
in  black  (silence  ever!) ."  l  He  reopens  his  letter  about 
the  screens  to  answer  one  from  Madame  Surville, 
written  evidently  at  the  instigation  of  M.  and  Mme. 
de  Balzac,  to  blame  his  supposed  idleness;  and  the 
poor  fellow,  to  whom  this  fault  at  least  could  at  no 
time  be  justly  imputed,  asks  her  if  he  is  not  already 
unhappy  enough,  and  tells  her  pathetically  how  he 
suffers  from  these  unjust  suspicions,  and  that  he  can 
never  be  happy  till  he  is  dead.  In  the  end,  however,  he 
returns  with  childlike  persistence  to  the  screens  as  a 
panacea  for  all  his  ills,  and  finishes  with:  "But  my 
screens — I  want  them  more  than  ever,  for  a  little  joy 
in  the  midst  of  torment!" 

He  had  now  apparently  completely  gone  under, 
like  many  another  promising  young  man  of  whom 
great  things  are  expected ;  and  he  had  in  his  pride  and 
misery  hidden  himself  from  every  one  except  a  few 
intimate  friends.  With  the  death  on  June  19th,  1829, 
of  his  father,  whose  last  days  were  saddened  by  the 
knowledge  of  his  son's  disaster,  the  world  was  poorer 
by  one  castle  in  the  air  the  less ;  for  besides  his  natural 
sorrow  at  the  death  of  the  kind  old  man,  who  was  so 
much  softer  than  his  wife,  the  dream  of  becoming  a 
millionaire  by  means  of  the  Tontine  capital  faded 
away,  like  all  poor  Honore's  other  visions.  Even 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  82. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  89 

Balzac's  buoyancy  was  not  always  proof  against  the 
depressing  influence  of  two  or  three  days  of  starva- 
tion, and  he  sometimes  descended  to  the  lowest  depths, 
and  groped  in  those  dark  places  from  which  death 
seems  the  only  escape.  When  he  tells  us  in  "  La  Peau 
de  Chagrin  "  that  Raphael  walked  with  an  uncertain 
step  in  the  Tuileries  Gardens,  "as  if  he  were  in  some 
desert,  elbowed  by  men  whom  he  did  not  see,  hearing, 
through  all  the  voices  of  the  crowd,  one  voice  alone, 
the  voice  of  Death,"  it  is  Balzac  himself,  who,  after 
glorious  aspirations,  after  being  in  imagination  raised 
to  heights  to  which  only  a  great  nature  can  aspire, 
now  lay  bruised  and  worsted,  a  complete  failure,  and 
thought  that  by  suicide  he  would  at  least  obtain  peace 
and  oblivion.  He  knew  to  the  full  the  truth  of  his 
words :  "  Between  a  self -sought  death  and  the  abun- 
dant hopes  whose  voices  call  a  young  man  to  Paris, 
God  only  knows  what  may  intervene,  what  contend- 
ing ideas  have  striven  within  the  soul,  what  poems 
have  been  set  aside,  what  moans  and  what  despair 
have  been  repressed,  what  abortive  masterpieces  and 
vain  endeavours." l 

Looking  back  years  afterwards  at  this  terrible  time, 
he  can  find  only  one  reason  why  he  did  not  put  an 
end  to  himself,  and  that  was  the  existence  of  Madame 
de  Berny:  "She  was  a  mother,  a  woman  friend,  a 
family,  a  man  friend,  an  adviser,"  he  cries  enthusias- 
tically; "she  made  the  writer,  she  consoled  the  young 
man,  she  formed  his  taste,  she  cried  like  a  sister,  she 
laughed ;  she  came  every  day,  like  a  merciful  slumber, 

1  Honor6  de  Balzac,  "La  Peau  de  Chagrin." 


^0       HONORS  DE  BALZAC 

to  send  sorrow  to  sleep."  Certainly  there  was  no 
woman  on  earth  to  whom  Balzac  owed  so  deep  a  debt 
of  gratitude,  and  certainly  also  he  joyfully  acknowl- 
edged his  obligations.  "Every  day  with  her  was 
a  fete"  he  said  to  Madame  Hanska  long  after- 
wards. 

About  this  time  another  friendship  was  beginning, 
which,  though  slower  in  growth  and  not  so  passion- 
ate in  character,  was  as  faithful,  and  was  only  ter- 
minated by  Balzac's  death.  When  Madame  Surville 
went  to  live  at  Versailles,  she  was  delighted  to  find 
that  an  old  schoolfellow,  Madame  Carraud,  was 
settled  there,  her  husband  holding  the  post  of  director 
of  the  military  school  at  Saint- Cyr.  Honore  had 
known  Madame  Carraud  since  1819;  but  he  first  be- 
came intimate  with  her  and  her  husband  in  1826,  and 
later  he  was  their  constant  guest  at  Angouleme, 
where  Commandant  Carraud  was  in  charge  of  the 
Government  powder- works,  or  at  Frapesle  in  Berry, 
where  Madame  Carraud  had  a  country  house.  She 
was  a  woman  of  much  intelligence  and  ambition,  high- 
principled  and  possessing  much  common  sense.  Bal- 
zac occasionally  complained  that  she  was  a  little  want- 
ing in  softness;  but,  nevertheless,  he  invariably  turned 
to  her  for  comfort  in  the  vicissitudes  of  his  more 
passionate  attachments.  He  was  also  much  attached 
to  M.  Carraud,  a  man  of  great  scientific  attainments 
and  a  good  husband,  but,  to  his  wife's  despair,  utterly 
lacking  in  energy  and  ambition;  so  that,  instead  of 
taking  the  position  to  which  by  his  ability  he  was  enti- 

1 "  Lettres  a  1'fitrangfere." 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  91 

tied,  he  soon  retired  altogether  from  public  life,  and 
Madame  Carraud,  who  should,  according  to  Balzac, 
have  found  scope  for  her  talents  in  Paris,  was  buried 
in  the  country.  Nevertheless,  the  Carrauds  were  a 
happy  couple,  genuinely  devoted  to  each  other;  and 
Madame  Carraud  cited  the  instance  of  their  affection, 
in  spite  of  the  difference  of  their  point  of  view  on 
many  subjects,  when  in  1833  she  wrote  to  Honore 
urging  him  to  marry. *  "  There  is  no  need  to  tell  you 
that  my  husband  and  I  are  not  sympathetic  in  every- 
thing. We  are  so  unlike  each  other  that  the  same 
objects  appear  quite  differently  to  us.  Yet  I  know 
the  happiness  about  which  I  speak.  We  both  feel  it 
in  the  same  degree,  though  in  a  different  way.  I 
would  not  give  it  up  for  the  fullest  existence,  accord- 
ing to  generally  received  ideas.  I  have  not  an  empty 
moment." 

She  was  an  ardent  politician,  and  we  gain  much  of 
our  knowledge  of  Balzac's  political  views  from  his 
letters  to  her  when  he  wished  to  become  a  deputy; 
while  she  also  possessed  the  faculty  which  he  valued 
most  in  his  women  friends,  that  of  intelligent  literary 
criticism.  She  could  be  critical  on  other  points  as 
well;  and,  like  Madame  Hanska,  blamed  Balzac  for 
mobility  of  ideas  and  inconstancy  of  resolution, 
which  she  said  wasted  his  intellect.  She  complained 
that,  in  the  time  that  he  might  have  used  to  bring  one 
plan  successfully  to  completion,  he  generally  started 

1  Letter  from  Madame  Carraud  in  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de 
LovenjouPs  collection,  published  in  La  Revue  Bleue,  November  21st» 
1903. 


92  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

ten  or  twelve  new  ones,  all  of  which  vanished  into 
smoke,  and  brought  him  no  advantage. 1 

Hardly  a  year  passed  without  Balzac  spending 
some  time  at  the  hospitable  house  at  Frapesle,  the 
doors  of  which  were  always  open  to  him;  and  there, 
away  from  creditors,  publishers,  journalists,  and  all 
his  other  enemies,  he  was  able  to  write  in  peace  and 
quietness.  There,  too,  he  made  many  pleasant  ac- 
quaintances, among  them  M.  Armand  Pereme,  the 
distinguished  antiquary,  and  M.  Periollas,  who  was 
at  one  time  under  M.  Carraud  at  Saint-Cyr,  and 
afterwards  became  chief  of  a  squadron  of  artillery. 
To  Madame  Carraud  he  also  owed  an  introduction  to 
his  most  intimate  male  friend,  Auguste  Borget,  a 
genre  painter  who  travelled  in  China,  and  drew  many 
pictures  of  the  scenery  there.  Borget  lodged  in  the 
same  house  with  Balzac  in  the  Rue  Cassini,  and  is 
mentioned  by  him  in  a  letter  to  Madame  Hanska,  in 
1833,  as  one  of  his  three  real  friends  beside  her  and 
his  sister,  Madame  de  Berny  and  Madame  Carraud 
being  the  other  two.  It  was  a  very  real  grief  to 
Balzac  when  Borget  was  away;  and  he  says  that  even 
when  the  painter  is  travelling,  sketching,  and  never 
writes  to  him,  he  is  constantly  in  his  remembrance; 
while  in  another  letter  he  speaks  of  his  friend's  no- 
bility of  soul  and  beauty  of  sentiment.  To  Borget 
was  dedicated  the  touching  story  of  "La  Messe  de 
1'Athee  " ;  and  in  case  of  Balzac's  sudden  death  it  was 
to  this  " good,  old,  and  true  friend"  that  the  duty  of 

1"L'6cole  des  Manages"  in  "  Autour  de  Honor£  de  Bakac,"  by  the 
Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  93 

burning  Madame  Hanska's  letters  was  entrusted, 
though  eventually  their  recipient  performed  this  pain- 
ful task  himself  in  1847. 

A  still  older  friend  was  M.  Dablin,  a  rich,  retired 
ironmonger  with  artistic  tastes,  who  left  his  valuable 
collection  of  artistic  objects  to  the  Louvre.  He  was 
known  to  Balzac  before  1817;  and  in  1830  the  suc- 
cessful writer  remembers  with  gratitude  that  M. 
Dablin  used  to  be  his  only  visitor  during  his  martyr- 
dom in  the  Rue  Lesdiguieres  in  1819.  At  that  time 
and  later  he  was  most  generous  in  lending  Honore 
money;  and  the  only  cloud  that  came  between  them 
for  a  long  time  was  his  indignation  when  Balzac 
wished  to  find  him  further  security  than  his  own  life 
for  a  loan  he  had  promised.  Later  on,  in  1845,  when 
M.  Dablin,  rather  hurt  by  some  heedless  words  from 
Balzac,  and  evidently  jealous  of  his  former  protege's 
grand  acquaintances,  complained  that  honours  and 
fortune  changed  people's  hearts — the  great  novelist 
found  time,  after  his  daily  sixteen  hours  of  work,  to 
write  a  long  letter  to  his  old  benefactor.1  In  this  he 
tells  him  that  nothing  will  alter  his  affection  for  him, 
that  all  his  real  friends  are  equal  in  his  sight;  and  he 
makes  the  true  boast  that,  though  he  may  have  the 
egotism  of  the  hard  worker,  he  has  never  yet  forsaken 
any  one  for  whom  he  feels  affection,  and  is  the  same 
now  in  heart  as  when  he  was  a  boy. 

Other  early  and  lifelong  friendships  were  with 
Madame  Delannoy,  who  lent  him  money,  and  was  in 
ways  kind  to  him,  and  with  M.  de  Margonne, 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  115. 


94  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

who  lived  at  Sache,  a  chateau  on  the  Indre,  in  the 
beautiful  Touraine  valley  described  in  "  Le  Lys  dans 
la  Vallee,"  and  who  had  held  Balzac  on  his  knees  when 
a  child.  Balzac  often  paid  him  visits,  especially  when 
he  wanted  to  meditate  over  some  serious  work,  as  he 
found  the  solitude  and  pure  air,  and  the  fact  that  he 
was  treated  in  the  neighbourhood  simply  as  a  native 
of  the  country  and  not  as  a  celebrity,  peculiarly  stim- 
ulating to  his  imagination  and  powers  of  creation. 
He  wrote  "Louis  Lambert,"  among  other  novels,  at 
the  house  of  this  hospitable  friend.  Madame  de  Mar- 
gonne  he  did  not  care  for:  she  was,  according  to  his 
unflattering  portrait  of  her,  intolerant  and  devout, 
deformed,  and  not  at  all  spirituelle.  But  she  did  not 
count  for  much;  Balzac  went  to  the  house  for  the 
sake  of  her  husband. 

An  intimacy  was  formed  about  this  time  between 
Balzac  and  La  Touche,  the  editor  of  the  Figaro,  who, 
as  has  been  already  mentioned,  helped  him  in  the 
prosaic  task  of  nailing  up  draperies.  This  intimacy 
must  have  been  of  great  value  to  Balzac's  education 
in  the  art  of  literature,  and  is  remarkable  for  that 
reason  in  the  history  of  a  man  in  whose  writings  small 
trace  of  outside  influence  can  be  descried,  and  who, 
except  in  the  case  of  Theophile  Gautier,  seemed  little 
affected  by  the  thought  of  his  contemporaries.  There- 
fore, though  a  long  way  behind  Madame  de  Berny — 
without  whom  Balzac,  as  we  know  him,  would  hardly 
have  existed — La  Touche  deserves  recognition  for  his 
work,  however  small,  in  moulding  the  literary  ideals 
and  forming  the  taste  of  the  great  writer.  Besides 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  95 

this,  his  friendship  with  Balzac  is  almost  unique  in  the 
history  of  the  latter,  in  the  fact  that,  for  some  reason 
we  do  not  know,  it  was  suddenly  broken  off ;  and  that 
almost  the  only  occasion  when  Balzac  showed  per- 
sonal dislike,  almost  amounting  to  hatred,  in  criticism 
was  when,  in  1840,  in  the  Revue  Parisienne,  he  pub- 
lished an  article  on  "Leo,"  a  novel  by  La  Touche. 
He  became,  George  Sand  says,  completely  indifferent 
to  his  old  master,  while  the  latter — a  pathetic,  yet 
thorny  and  uncomfortable  figure,  as  portrayed  by  his 
contemporaries — continued  to  belittle  and  revile  his 
former  pupil,  while  all  the  time  he  loved  him,  and 
longed  for  a  reconciliation  which  never  took  place. 
La  Touche  had  a  quick  instinct  for  discovering 
genius:  he  introduced  Andre  Chenier's  posthumous 
poems  to  the  public,  and  launched  Jules  Sandeau  and 
George  Sand.  But  he  was  soured  by  seeing  his  pupils 
enter  the  promised  land  only  open  to  genius,  while  he 
was  left  outside  himself.  Sooner  or  later,  the  eager, 
affected  little  hypochondriacal  man  with  the  bright 
eyes  quarrelled  with  all  his  friends,  and  a  rupture 
would  naturally  soon  take  place  between  the  ultra- 
sensitive teacher,  ready  to  take  offence  on  the 
smallest  pretext,  and  the  hearty,  robust  Tourainean, 
who,  whatever  his  troubles  might  be,  faced  the  world 
with  a  laugh,  who  insisted  on  his  genius  with  cheery 
egotism,  and  who,  in  spite  of  real  goodheartedness 
and  depth  of  affection,  was  too  full  of  himself  to  be 
always  careful  about  the  feelings  of  others.  How 
much  Balzac  owed  to  La  Touche  we  do  not  know; 
but  though,  as  we  have  already  seen,  there  were  other 


96  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

reasons  for  his  sudden  stride  in  literature  between 
1825  and  1828,  it  is  significant  that  "  Les  Chouans," 
the  first  book  to  which  he  affixed  his  name,  and  in 
which  his  genius  really  shows  itself,  was  written  di- 
rectly after  his  intercourse  with  this  literary  teacher. 
No  doubt  La  Touche,  who  was  cursed  with  the  miser- 
able fate  of  possessing  the  temperament  of  genius 
without  the  electric  spark  itself,  magnified  the  help 
he  had  given,  and  felt  extreme  bitterness  at  the  short- 
ness of  memory  shown  by  the  great  writer,  whom  he 
vainly  strove  to  sting  into  feeling  by  the  acerbity  of 
his  attacks. 

Never  at  any  time  did  Balzac  go  out  much  into 
society,  but  his  anonymous  novels,  though  they  did 
not  bring  him  fame,  had  opened  to  him  the  doors  of 
several  literary  and  artistic  salons,  and  he  was  a  fre- 
quenter of  that  of  Madame  Sophie  Gay,  the  author 
of  several  novels,  one  of  which,  "Anatole,"  is  said 
to  have  been  read  by  Napoleon  during  the  last  night 
spent  at  Fontainebleau  in  1814.  Hers  was  essentially 
an  Empire  salon,  antagonistic  to  the  government  of 
the  Bourbons,  and  Balzac's  feelings  were  perhaps 
occasionally  ruffled  by  the  talk  that  went  on  around 
him,  though  more  probably  the  interest  he  found  in 
the  study  of  different  phases  of  opinion  outweighed 
his  party  prepossessions.  Those  evenings  must  have 
been  an  anxious  pleasure ;  for,  with  no  money  to  pay  a 
cab  fare,  there  was  always  the  agonising  question  as 
to  whether  on  arrival  his  boots  would  be  of  spotless 
cleanliness,  while  the  extravagance  of  a  pair  of  white 
gloves  meant  a  diminution  in  food  which  it  was  not 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  97 

pleasant  to  contemplate.  Then,  too,  he  felt  savage 
disgust  at  the  elegant  costumes  and  smart  cabriolets 
owned  by  empty-headed  fops  with  insufferable  airs 
of  conquest,  who  looked  at  him  askance,  and  to 
whom  he  could  not  prove  the  genius  which  was  in 
him,  or  give  voice  to  his  belief  that  some  day  he  would 
dominate  them  all.  The  restlessness  and  discomfort, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  sense  of  unknown  and  fas- 
cinating possibilities  which  are  the  birthright  of 
talented  youth,  and  in  the  portrayal  of  which  Balzac 
is  supreme,  must  have  been  well  known  to  him  by 
experience;  and  his  almost  Oriental  love  of  beauty 
and  luxury  made  his  life  of  grinding  poverty  pecu- 
liarly galling. 

Conspicuous  in  her  mother's  salon,  queen  of  con- 
versationalists, reciting  verses  in  honour  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  Greece,  exciting  peals  of  laughter  by 
her  wit  and  her  power  to  draw  out  that  of  others,  was 
a  brilliant  figure — that  of  the  beautiful  Delphine 
Gay,  who  was,  in  1831,  to  become  Madame  de  Girar- 
din.  She  is  a  charming  figure,  a  woman  with  unfail- 
ing tact  and  a  singular  lack  of  literary  jealousy,  so 
that  all  her  contemporaries  speak  of  her  with  affec- 
tion. She  made  strenuous  efforts  to  keep  the  peace 
between  Balzac  and  her  husband,  the  autocratic  editor 
of  La  Presse;  and  till  1847,  when  the  final  rupture 
took  place,  Balzac's  real  liking  for  her  conquered 
his  resentment  at  what  he  considered  unjustifiable 
proceedings  on  the  part  of  her  husband.  Once  in- 
deed there  was  a  complete  cessation  of  friendly  rela- 
tions, and  even  dark  hints  about  a  duel;  but  usually 


98  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

Madame  de  Girardin  prevailed;  and  though  there 
were  many  recriminations  on  both  sides,  and  several 
times  nearly  an  explosion,  Balzac  wrote  for  LaPr esse, 
visited  her  salon,  and  was  generally  on  terms  of 
politeness  with  her  husband.  She  was  proud  of  her 
beautiful  complexion,  and  had  a  drawing-room  hung 
with  pale  green  satin  to  show  it  to  the  best  advan- 
tage ;  while,  like  her  mother,  she  wrote  novels,  one  of 
which  she  called  "La  Canne  de  M.  de  Balzac," 
after  the  novelist's  famous  cane  adorned  with  tur- 
quoises. 

One  of  the  habituees  of  Madame  Gay's  salon  was 
the  Duchesse  d'Abrantes;  and  between  her  and 
Balzac  there  existed  a  literary  comradeship,  possibly 
cemented  by  the  impecunious  condition  which  was 
common  to  both.  In  1827  she  lived  at  Versailles;  and 
whenever  Balzac  went  to  see  his  parents,  he  also  paid 
her  a  visit,  when  long  talks  took  place  about  their 
mutual  struggles,  misfortunes,  and  hopes  of  gaining 
money  by  writing.  The  poor  woman  was  always  in 
monetary  difficulties.  After  the  fall  of  the  Empire 
and  the  death  of  her  husband,  whom  she  courageously 
followed  throughout  his  campaign  in  Spain,  she  con- 
tinued to  live  in  the  same  luxury  that  had  surrounded 
her  during  her  days  of  splendour ;  and  as  the  Bourbon 
Government  refused  to  help  her,  she  was  soon  re- 
duced to  a  state  of  destitution,  and  turned  to  her  pen 
to  gain  money  to  pay  off  her  creditors.  She  wrote 
several  novels,  which  at  this  time  are  completely  for- 
gotten; but  in  1831  she  began  to  bring  out  her 
Memoirs,  and  these  give  a  graphic  account  of  the 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  99 

social  life  under  the  Empire,  and  have  become  a 
classic.  These  Memoirs  were  first  published  in  six- 
teen volumes,  and  it  must  have  been  a  relief  to 
the  public  when  a  second  edition,  consisting  of 
only  twelve  volumes,  was  brought  out  three  years 
later. 

In  1829,  the  time  of  which  we  are  now  writing, 
Balzac  could  only  sympathise  when  the  poor  Duchess, 
formerly  raised  to  great  heights  and  now  fallen  very 
low,  felt  depressed  at  her  reverses,  and  took  a  gloomy 
view  of  life.  He  would  assure  her  that  happiness 
could  not  possibly  be  over  for  ever,  and  would  predict 
a  bright  dawn  some  future  day:  while  as  soon  as  he 
began  to  prosper  himself,  he  did  his  best  to  lend  her 
a  helping  hand.  He  effected  an  introduction  to 
Charles  Rabou,  so  that  her  articles  were  received  by 
the  Revue  de  Paris,  and  he  assisted  as  intermediary 
between  her  and  the  publishers,  taking  infinite  trouble 
on  her  behalf,  and  in  the  end  gaining  most  advan- 
tageous terms  for  her.  No  assistance,  however,  was  of 
permanent  use.  She,  who  knew  so  much,  had  never 
learnt  to  manage  money,  and  helped  by  her  eldest  son 
Napoleon  d'Abrantes,  she  spent  every  penny  she 
earned.  On  July  7th,  1838,  she  died  in  the  utmost 
poverty  in  a  miserable  room  in  the  Rue  des  Batailles, 
having  been  turned  out  of  the  hospital,  where  she  had 
hoped  to  end  her  days  in  peace,  because  she  could  not 
pay  her  expenses  in  advance.  Balzac  writes  to 
Madame  Hanska:  "The  papers  will  have  told  you 
about  the  Duchesse  d'Abrantes'  deplorable  death. 
She  ended  as  the  Empire  ended.  Some  day  I  will 


100  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

explain  this  woman  to  you ;  it  will  be  a  nice  evening's 
occupation  at  Wierzchownia." 

Another  of  Balzac's  friendships,  rather  different 
in  character  from  those  already  mentioned,  was  that 
with  George  Sand,  "  his  brother  George  "  he  used  to 
call  her.  He  first  made  her  acquaintance  in  1831, 
and  would  often  go  puffing  up  the  stairs  of  the  five- 
storied  house  on  the  Quai  Saint-Michel,  at  the  top  of 
which  she  lived.  His  ostensible  object  was  to  give 
advice  about  her  writing,  but  in  reality  he  would  leave 
this  comparatively  uninteresting  subject  very  quickly, 
and  pour  out  floods  of  talk  about  his  own  novels. 
"Ah,  I  have  found  something  else!  You  will  see! 
you  will  see!  A  splendid  idea!  a  situation!  a  dia- 
logue! Xo  one  has  ever  seen  anything  like  it!" 
"  It  was  joy,  laughter,  and  a  superabundance  of 
enthusiasm,  of  which  one  cannot  give  any  idea.  And 
this  after  nights  without  slumber  and  days  without 
repose,"  2  remarks  George  Sand. 

There  were  limitations  in  his  view  of  her,  as  he 
never  fully  realised  the  scope  of  her  genius,  and 
looked  on  her  as  half  a  man,  so  that  he  would  some- 
times shock  her  by  the  breadth  of  his  conversation. 
After  her  rupture  with  Jules  Sandeau,  whose  side  in 
the  affair  he  espoused  vehemently,  he  disapproved  of 
her  for  some  time,  and  contrasted  rather  contemptu- 
ously the  versatility  of  her  affairs  of  the  heart  with 
the  ideal  of  passionate,  enduring  love  portrayed  in 
her  novels.  However,  later  on,  when  he  himself  had 

1 "  Lettres  a  1'Etrangere." 

2 "  Autour  de  la  Table,"  by  George  Sand. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  101 

been  disappointed  in  Sandeau,  and  when  the  latter 
had  further  roused  his  indignation  by  writing  a 
novel  called  "  Marianna,"  which  was  intended  to  drag 
George  Sand's  name  through  the  mud,  Balzac  de- 
fended her  energetically.  About  the  same  time 
(1839)  he  brought  out  his  novel  "Beatrix,"  in  which 
she  is  portrayed  as  Mile,  des  Touches,  with  "the 
beauty  of  Isis,  more  serious  than  gracious,  and  as  if 
struck  with  the  sadness  of  constant  meditation." 
Her  eyes,  according  to  Balzac,  were  her  great  beauty, 
and  all  her  expression  was  in  them,  otherwise  her  face 
was  stupid;  but  with  her  splendid  black  hair  and  her 
complexion — olive  by  day  and  white  in  artificial  light 
—she  must  have  been  a  striking  and  picturesque 
figure.  Later  on  Balzac  appears  to  have  partly  recon- 
ciled himself  to  her  moral  irregularities,  on  the  con- 
venient ground  that  she,  like  himself,  was  an  excep- 
tional being;  and  we  hear  of  several  visits  he  paid  to 
Xohant,  where  he  delighted  in  long  hours  of  talk  on 
social  questions  with  a  comrade  to  whom  he  need 
not  show  the  galanteries  d'cpiderme  necessary  in 
intercourse  with  ordinary  women.  He  says  of  her: 
"  She  had  no  littleness  of  soul,  and  none  of  those  low 
jealousies  which  obscure  so  much  contemporary 
talent.  Dumas  is  like  her  on  this  point.  George 
Sand  is  a  very  noble  friend." 

This  is  all  anticipation;  we  must  now  go  back  to 
1828  and  1829,  and  picture  Balzac's  existence  first 
in  the  Rue  de  Tournon  and  then  in  one  room  at  the 
Rue  Cassini.  Insufficiently  clad  and  wretchedly  fed, 

'"Lettres  &  l'£trang£re." 


102  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

he  occasionally  went  to  evening  parties  to  collect 
material  for  his  writing;  at  other  times  he  visited 
some  sympathising  friend,  and  poured  out  his  troubles 
to  her;  but  he  had  only  one  real  support — the 
sympathy  and  affection  of  Madame  de  Berny.  It 
was  a  frightfully  hard  life.  He  took  coffee  to  keep 
himself  awake,  and  he  wrote  and  wrote  till  he  was 
exhausted;  all  the  time  being  in  the  condition  of  a 
"tracked  hare,"  harassed  and  pursued  by  his  credi- 
tors, and  knowing  that  all  his  gains  must  go  to  them. 

His  only  relaxations  were  little  visits.  He  went  to 
Tours,  where  he  danced  at  a  ball  with  a  girl  with  red 
hair,  and  with  another  so  little  "  that  a  man  would  only 
marry  her  that  she  might  act  as  a  pin  for  his  shirt." 
He  travelled  to  Sache,  to  see  M.  de  Margonne;  to 
Champ rosay,  where  he  met  his  sister ;  and  to  Fougeres 
in  Brittany,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Baron  de  Pom- 
mereul.  During  the  last-named  visit,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  he  not  only  collected  the  material,  but 
also  wrote  the  greater  part  of  his  novel  "Les 
Chouans,"  which  proved  the  turning-point  of  his 
career. 

This  novel,  the  first  signed  with  his  name,  Honore 
Balzac,  was  published  by  Canel  and  Levavasseur  in 
March,  1829,  and  in  December  of  the  same  year  the 
"  Physiologic  du  Mariage  by  a  Celibataire,"  appeared 
and  excited  general  attention;  though  many  people, 
Madame  Carraud  among  the  number,  were  much 
shocked  by  it.  Each  of  these  books  brought  in  about 
£50 — not  a  large  sum,  especially  when  we  think  that 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  82. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  103 

Balzac  must  at  this  time  have  owed  about  £2,000; 
but  lie  had  now  his  foot  upon  the  first  rung  of  the 
ladder  of  fame,  and  editors  and  publishers  began  to 
apply  to  him  for  novels  and  articles. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Balzac,  who  answered  a 
question  put  to  him  during  his  lawsuit  against  the 
Revue  de  Paris  on  the  subject  of  his  right  to  the 
prefix  "de,"  with  the  rather  grandiloquent  words, 
"My  name  is  on  my  certificate  of  birth,  as  that  of 
the  Duke  of  Fitz- James  is  on  his,"  *  should,  on  the 
title-page  of  "Les  Chouans,"  have  called  himself 
simply  M.  H.  Balzac,  and  on  that  of  the  "  Scenes 
de  la  Vie  Privee,"  which  appeared  in  April,  1830, 
M.  Balzac,  still  without  the  "  de."  In  1826  he  gives 
his  designation  and  title  as  "H.  Balzac,  imprimeur, 
Rue  des  Marais,  St.-Germain,  31,"  and  we  have 
already  seen  that  he  was  entered  on  the  school  register 
as  Honore  Balzac,  and  that  his  parents  at  that  time 
called  themselves  M.  and  Mme.  Balzac.  Occasion- 
ally, however,  as  early  as  1822,  in  letters  to  his  sister 
Honore  insists  on  the  particle  "de,"  and  all  his  life 
he  claimed  to  be  a  member  of  a  very  old  Gaulish 
family — a  pretension  which  gave  his  enemies  a 
famous  opportunity  for  deriding  him.  In  1836, 
during  his  lawsuit  with  the  Revue  de  Paris,  he  cer- 
tainly spoke  on  the  subject  with  no  doubtful  voice: 

"  Even  if  my  name  sounds  too  well  in  certain  ears, 
even  if  it  is  envied  by  those  who  are  not  pleased  with 
their  own,  I  cannot  give  it  up.  My  father  was  quite 

1  First  Preface  to  the  "Lys  dans  la  Vallee,"  p.  482,  voL  xxii.  of 
•"CEuvres  Completes  de  H.  de  Balzac,"  Edition  definitive. 


104  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

within  his  rights  on  this  subject,  having  consulted 
the  records  in  the  Archive  Office.  He  was  proud  of 
being  one  of  the  conquered  race,  of  a  family  which  in 
Auvergne  had  resisted  the  invasion,  and  from  which 
the  D'Entragues  took  their  origin.  He  discovered 
in  the  Archive  Office  the  notice  of  a  grant  of  land 
made  by  the  Balzacs  to  establish  a  monastery  in  the 
environs  of  the  little  town  of  Balzac,  and  a  copy  of 
this  was,  he  told  me,  registered  by  his  care  at  the  Par- 
liament of  Paris."  l 

Balzac  continues  for  some  time  in  this  strain,  giving 
his  enemies  a  fresh  handle  for  ridicule.  After  the 
loss  of  the  lawsuit,  the  Revue  de  Paris.,  raging  with 
indignation,  answered  him  with  "Un  dernier  mot  a 
M.  de  Balzac,"  an  article  which  the  writer,  after  a 
reflection  full  of  venom,  must  have  dashed  off  with 
set  teeth  and  a  sardonic  smile,  and  in  which  there  is  a 
most  scathing  paragraph  on  the  vexed  question  of 
the  "de": 

"  He  [Balzac]  tells  us  that  he  is  of  an  old  Gaulish 
family  (You  understand,  'Gaulish' — one  of  Char- 
lemagne's peers!  A  French  family,  what  is  that? 
Gaulish!)  It  is  not  his  own  fault,  poor  man!  Further, 
M.  de  Balzac  will  prove  to  you  that  the  Bourbons  and 
the  Montmorencies  and  other  French  gentlemen  must 
lower  their  armorial  bearings  before  him,  who  is  a 
Gaul,  and  more — a  Gaul  of  old  family!  In  fact, 
this  name  'De  Balzac'  is  a  patronymic  name  (patro- 
nymically  ridiculous  and  Gaulish).  He  has  always 
been  De  Balzac,  only  that!  while  the  Montmorencies 

1  See  First  Preface  to  the  "  Lys  dans  la  Vallee." 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  105 

— those  unfortunate  Montmorencies — were  formerly 
called  Bouchard;  and  the  Bourbons — a  secondary 
family  who  are  neither  patronymic  nor  Gaulish  (of 
old  Gaulish  family  is  of  course  understood)  were 
called  Capet.  M.  de  Balzac  is  therefore  more  noble 
than  the  King!" 

Towards  the  end,  rage  renders  the  talented  writer 
slightly  incoherent,  and  we  can  imagine  a  blotted  and 
illegible  manuscript;  but  the  question  raised  is  an 
interesting  one,  and  Balzac  attached  great  impor- 
tance to  it.  A  favourite  form  of  spite  with  his  enemies 
was  to  adopt  the  same  measures  as  did  this  writer, 
who,  except  in  the  title,  calls  him  throughout  "M. 
Balzac,"  a  form  of  insult  which  possessed  the  double 
advantage  of  imposing  no  strain  on  the  mind  of  the 
attacking  party,  and  yet  of  hitting  the  victim  on  a 
peculiarly  tender  spot. 

Balzac's  statement  that  he  was  entered  "De 
Balzac"  on  the  register  of  his  birth  is  on  the  face  of 
it  untrue,  as  he  was  born  on  the  2nd  Prairial  of  the 
year  VII.,  a  time  when  all  titles  were  proscribed;  so 
that  the  omission  of  the  "de"  means  nothing,  while 
his  contention  that  he  dropped  the  "de"  in  1826, 
because  he  would  not  soil  his  noble  name  by  associat- 
ing it  with  trade,  might  very  easily  be  correct.  Un- 
fortunately, however,  for  Balzac's  argument,  when 
old  M.  Balzac  died,  on  June  19th,  1829,  he  was 
described  in  the  register  as  Bernard  Fra^ois  Balzac, 
without  the  "de."  He  does  not  even  seem  to  have 
stood  on  his  rights  during  his  lifetime,  as  in  1826, 
after  the  death  of  Laurence,  who  had  become  Ma- 


106  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

dame  de  Montzaigle — it  must  have  been  a  satisfac- 
tion to  the  Balzac  family  to  have  one  indisputable 
"de"  among  them — cards  in  answer  to  condolences 
were  sent  out  in  the  names  of  M.  and  Madame  Bal- 
zac, M.  and  Madame  Surville,  and  MM.  Honore  and 
Henri  Balzac. 

Still,  it  might  be  possible  for  us  to  maintain,  if  it 
so  pleased  us,  that,  in  spite  of  certain  evidence  to  the 
contrary,  the  Balzacs  were  simple,  unpretentious 
people  who,  having  dropped  the  "  de  "  at  the  time  of 
the  Revolution,  did  not  care  to  resume  it;  but  here 
M.  Edmond  Bire,  who  furnishes  us  with  the  infor- 
mation already  given,  completely  cuts  the  ground 
away  from  under  our  feet.  It  appears  that  M. 
Charles  Portal,  the  well-known  antiquary,  has  in  his 
researches  discovered  the  birth  register  of  old  M.  Bal- 
zac. He  was  born  on  July  22nd,  1746,  at  La  Nou- 
garie,  in  the  parish  of  Saint-Martin  de  Canezac,  and 
is  described  in  this  document,  not  as  Balzac  at  all,  but 
as  Bernard  Francois  Balssa,  the  son  of  a  labourer! 
At  what  date  he  took  the  name  of  Balzac,  and  whether 
his  celebrated  son  knew  of  the  harmless  deception,  we 
do  not  know;  but  possibly  his  change  of  name  was 
another  of  the  little  reserves  which  the  clever  old  gen- 
tleman thought  it  necessary  to  maintain  about  his  past 
life,  and  Honore  really  considered  himself  a  member 
of  an  old  family. 

At  any  rate,  as  M.  Bire  says,  he  certainly  earned 
by  his  pen  the  right  to  nobility,  and  in  this  account 
of  him  he  will  be  known  by  his  usual  appellation  of 
"De  Balzac." 


CHAPTER  VI 

1829—1832 

* 

Work  and  increasing  fame — Emile   de  Girardin — Balzac's    early 
relations  with  the  Revue  de  Paris  and  quarrel  with  Amedee 
Pichot — First   letters   from   Madame   Hanska   and 
the  Marquise  de  Castries — Balzac's  extraor- 
dinary  mode   of  writing — Burlesque 
account  of  it  from  the  Figaro 

THE  record  of  the  next  few  years  of  Balzac's  life 
is  a  difficult  one,  so  many  and  varied  were  the  inter- 
ests crowded  into  them,  so  short  the  hours  of  slejep, 
and  so  long  the  nights  of  work,  followed  without  rest 
by  an  eight  hours'  day  of  continual  rush.  Visits  to 
printers,  publishers,  and  editors,  worrying  interviews 
with  creditors,  and  letters  on  business,  politics,  and 
literature,  followed  each  other  in  bewilderingly  quick 
succession,  and  the  only  respite  was  to  be  found 
in  occasional  talks  with  such  friends  as  Madame 
de  Berny,  Madame  Carraud,  or  the  Duchesse 
d'Abrantes. 

Success  was  arriving.  But  success  with  Balzac 
never  meant  leisure,  or  relief  from  a  heavy  burden 
of  debt;  it  merely  gave  scope  for.jenormous  prodigies 
of  labour.  His  passion  for  work  amounted  to  a  dis- 
ease ;  and  who  can  measure;  the  gamut  of  emotion, 

107 


108  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

ranging  from  rapture  down  to  straining  effort,  which 
was  gone  through  in  those  silent  hours  of  darkness, 
when  the  man,  the  best  part  of  whom  lived  only  in 
solitude  and  night,  sat  in  his  monk's  habit,  before  a 
writing-table  littered  with  papers?  Then,  impelled  by 
the  genius  of  creation,  he  would  allow  his  imagination 
full  sway,  and  would  turn  to  account  the  material 
collected  by  his  keen  powers  of  observation  and  his 
unparalleled  intuition.  It  was  strenuous  labour,  with 
the  attendant  joy  of  calling  every  faculty,  including 
the  highest  of  all — that  of  creation — into  activity, 
and  the  hours  no  doubt  often  passed  like  moments. 
But  the  fierce  battling  with  expression,  the  effort  to 
tax  superabundant  powers  to  the  utmost,  left  their 
mark;  and  in  the  morning  Balzac  would  drag  himself 
to  the  printer  or  publisher,  with  his  hair  in  disorder, 
his  lips  dry,  and  his  forehead  lined. 

Jules  Sandeau,  who  had  been  taken  by  Balzac  to 
live  with  him,  and  who  remarked  that  he  would  rather 
die  than  work  as  he  did,  says  that  sometimes,  when 
the  passion  and  inspiration  for  writing  were  strong 
on  him,  he  would  shut  himself  up  for  three  weeks  in 
his  closely  curtained  room,  never  breathing  the  out- 
side air  or  knowing  night  from  day.  When  utterly 
exhausted,  he  would  throw  himself  on  his  pallet-bed 
for  a  few  hours,  and  slumber  heavily  and  feverishly; 
and  when  he  could  fast  no  longer,  he  would  call  for  a 
meal,  which  must,  however,  be  scanty,  because  diges- 
tion would  divert  the  blood  from  the  brain.  Other- 
wise, hour  after  hour,  he  sat  before  his  square  table, 
and  concentrated  his  powerful  mind  on  his  work, 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  109 

utterly  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  there  was  anything 
in  the  world  save  the  elbowing,  crushing  throng  of 
phantom — yet  to  him  absolutely  real — personages, 
whom  he  took  into  his  being,  and  in  whose  life  he 
lived.  For  the  time  he  felt  with  their  feelings,  saw 
with  their  eyes,  became  possessed  by  them,  as  the 
great  actor  becomes  possessed  by  the  personality 
he  represents.  "  C'etait  un  voyant,  non  un  observa- 
teur,"  as  Philarete  Chasles  said  with  truth. 

In  1829  Balzac  was  introduced  by  the  publisher 
M.  Levavasseur  to  fimile  de  Girardin,  who  became — 
and  the  connection  was  life-long — what  Mme.  de 
Girardin  called  La  Touche, — an  "intimate  enemy." 
At  first  all  was  harmony'.  Emile  de  Girardin's  letters 
beginning  in  1830  with  "Mon  tres-cher  Monsieur," 
are  addressed  in  1831  to  "Mon  cher  Balzac";  but  it 
is  doubtful  whether  the  finish  of  one  written  in  Octo- 
ber, 1830,  and  ending  with  "  Amitie  d'ambition  ! ! ! " 1 
is  exactly  flattering  to  the  recipient — it  savours  rather 
strongly  of  what  is  termed  in  vulgar  parlance  "  cup- 
board love."  However,  Girardin  was  the  first  to 
recognise  the  great  water's  talents,  and  at  the  end  of 
1829,  or  the  beginning  of  1830,  after  having  inserted 
an  article  by  Balzac  in  La  Mode,  of  which  he  was 
editor,  he  invited  his  collaboration,  as  well  as  that  of 
Victor  Varaigne,  Hippolyte  Auger,  and  Bois  le 
Comte,  in  forming  a  bibliographical  supplement  to  the 
daily  papers,  which  was  to  be  entitled  "  Le  f  euilleton  des 
journaux  politiques."  This  was  a  failure,  but  Balzac 

luLa  Genese  d'un   Roman  de   Balzac,"  p.   105,  by  the  Vicomte  de 
Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


110 

was  associated  with  Emile  de  Girardin  in  several  other 
literary  enterprises;  and  it  was  through  the  agency 
of  this  energetic  editor  that  he  wrote  his  letters  on 
Paris  in  the  Voleur,  which,  extending  from  Septem- 
ber 26th,  1830,  to  March  29th,  1831,  would  form  a 
volume  in  themselves.  After  the  Revolution  of  1830 
stories  went  out  of  fashion,  the  reviews  and  maga- 
zines being  completely  occupied  with  the  task  of 
discussing  the  political  situation;  and  Balzac  wrote 
numberless  articles  in  the  Silhouette,  which  was  edited 
by  Victor  Ratier,  and  in  the  Caricature,  edited  by  M. 
Philippon.  A  few  years  later  the  latter  journal 
became  violently  political ;  but  at  this  time  it  consisted 
merely  of  witty  and  amusing  articles,  ridiculing  all 
parties  impartially. 

With  Victor  Ratier,  Balzac  contemplated  a  part- 
nership in  writing  for  the  theatre,  though  he  thought 
Ratier  hardly  sufficiently  industrious  to  make  a  satis- 
factory collaborator.  However1,  he  threatened  him 
in  case  of  laziness  with  a  poor  and  honest  young  man 
as  a  rival,  and,  to  rouse  Ratier  to  energy,  remarked 
that  the  unnamed  prodigy  was,  like  himself,  full  of 
courage,  whereas  Ratier  resembled  "an  Indian  on 
his  mat."  Balzac's  imaginative  brain  was  to  supply 
the  plot  and  characters  of  each  drama;  but  he  was 
careful,  as  in  the  case  of  his  early  novels,  that  his 
name  should  not  appear,  as  the  plays  were  to  be  mere 
vaudevilles  written  to  gain  money,  and  would  cer- 
tainly not  increase  their  author's  reputation.  Ratier 
was  therefore  to  pose  as  their  sole  author,  and  was  to- 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  115. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  ill 

undertake  the  actual  writing  of  the  play,  unless  he 
were  too  lazy  for  the  effort,  when  the  honest  and 
unfortunate  young  man  would  take  his  place.  The 
pecuniary  part  of  the  bargain  was  not  mentioned, 
except  the  fact  that  both  partners  would  become 
enormously  rich;  and  that  result  is  so  invariable  a 
characteristic  of  Balzac's  schemes  that  it  need  hardly 
be  noticed.  However,  this  brilliant  plan  came  to 
nothing,  not,  as  we  may  suppose,  from  any  failure 
on  the  part  of  the  indolent  Ratier — as  there  was  in 
this  case  his  unnamed  rival  to  fall  back  upon — but 
most  probably  because  its  promoter  had  not  a  mo- 
ment's leisure  in  which  to  think  of  it  again. 

Towards  the  end  of  1830  he  began  to  write  for  the 
Revue  de  Paris,  a  journal  with  which  his  relations, 
generally  inharmonious,  culminated  in  the  celebrated 
lawsuit  of  1836.  The  Review  was  at  this  time  the 
property  of  a  company;  and  the  sole  object  of  the 
shareholders  being  to  obtain  large  dividends,  they 
adopted  the  short-sighted  policy  of  cutting  down  their 
payment  to  authors,  a  course  which  led  to  continual 
recriminations,  and  naturally  made  the  office  of  chief 
editor  very  difficult.  When  Balzac  first  wrote  for 
the  Review }  Charles  Rabou  held  this  post,  following 
Dr.  Veron ;  but  he  resigned  in  a  few  months,  and  was 
succeeded  in  his  turn  by  Amedee  Pichot.  With  him 
Balzac  waged  continual  war,  finally  dealing  a  heavy 
blow  to  the  Review  by  deserting  it  altogether  in  1833. 

The  cause  of  the  dispute,  in  the  first  instance,  was 
one  which  often  reappears  in  the  history  of  Balzac's 
relations  with  different  editors.  Being  happily  pos- 


112  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

sessed  of  devoted  friends,  who  allowed  him  complete 
freedom  while  he  stayed  with  them,  he  found  it  easier 
to  write  in  the  quiet  of  the  country  than  amidst  the 
worries  and  distractions  of  Paris.  In  1830,  after 
travelling  in  Brittany,  he  spent  four  months,  from 
July  to  November,  at  La  Grenadiere,  that  pretty 
little  house  near  to  Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire,  which  he 
coveted  continually,  but  never  succeeded  in  acquiring. 
In  1834  he  thought  the  arrangements  for  its  purchase 
were  at  last  settled.  After  three  years  of  continual 
refusals,  the  owners  had  consented  to  sell,  and  he 
already  imagined  himself  surrounded  with  books, 
and  established  for  six  months  at  a  time  at  this  stu- 
dious retreat.  However,  pecuniary  difficulties  came 
as  usual  in  the  way,  and  except  as  a  visitor,  Balzac 
never  tasted  the  joys  of  a  country  life. 

From  La  Grenadiere  he  wrote  a  remarkable  letter 
to  Ratier,1  full  of  love  for  the  beauty  of  nature,  a 
feeling  which  filled  him  with  a  sense  of  the  littleness 
of  man,  and  expressing  also  that  uncomfortable 
doubt  which  must  occasionally  assail  the  mind  of  any 
man  possessed  of  powerful  physique  as  well  as  im- 
agination— the  doubt  whether  the  existence  of  the 
thinker  is  not  after  all  a  poor  thing  compared  with 
that  of  the  active  worker,  who  is  tossed  about,  risks 
his  life,  and  himself  creates  a  living.  He  finishes 
with  the  words:  "And  it  seems  to  me  that  the  sea, 
a.  man-of-war,  and  an  English  boat  to  destroy,  with 
a  chance  of  drowning,  are  better  than  an  inkpot, 
and  a  pen,  and  the  Rue  Saint-Denis." 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  98. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  113 

In  May,  1831,  Balzac  was  again  away  from  Paris, 
this  time  taking  up  his  abode  in  Nemours,  where  he 
describes  himself  as  living  alone  in  a  tent  in  the 
depths  of  the  earth,  subsisting  on  coffee,  and  work- 
ing day  and  night  at  "La  Peau  de  Chagrin,"  with 
"  L'Auberge  Rouge,"  which  he  was  writing  for  the 
Revue  de  Paris,  as  his  only  distraction. 

These  absences  did  not  apparently  cause  any  fric- 
tion; but  when,  in  November,  1831,  Balzac  went  to 
Sache  to  stay  with  M.  de  Margonne,  and  then  moved 
on  to  the  Carrauds,  he  left  "Le  Maitre  Cornelius," 
which  he  was  writing  for  the  Revue  de  Paris,  in  an 
unfinished  and  uncorrected  condition.  Thereupon, 
Amedee  Pichot,  who  naturally  wanted  consecutive 
numbers  of  the  story  for  his  magazine,  committed 
what  was  in  Balzac's  eyes  an  unpardonable  breach 
of  trust,  by  publishing  the  uncorrected  proofs,  leaving 
out  or  altering  what  he  did  not  understand.  Balzac 
was  furious  at  his  signature  being  appended  to  what 
he  considered  unfinished  work.  Amedee  Pichot  was 
also  very  angry,  because  Balzac  had  unduly  length- 
ened the  first  part  of  the  story,  and  had  kept  him 
two  months  waiting  for  the  finish.  Therefore,  as 
diligence  was  the  only  mode  of  transit,  and  it  was 
necessary  that  "Le  Maitre  Cornelius"  should  end 
with  the  year,  it  was  impossible  to  send  the  proofs 
before  printing  for  correction  to  Angouleme.  Nev- 
ertheless, as  he  had  undoubtedly  exceeded  his  rights 
as  editor,  he  thought  it  wise  to  temporise,  and  wrote 
an  explanatory  and  conciliatory  letter;  and  as  this  did 
not  pacify  Balzac,  he  dispatched  a  second  of  similar 


114  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

tenor.  However,  a  few  days  later,  on  January  9th, 
1832,  he  felt  compelled  by  the  tone  of  Balzac's  corre- 
spondence to  send  a  third  beginning :  "  Sir,  I  find 
from  the  tone  of  your  letter  that  I  am  guilty  of  doing 
you  a  great  wrong.  I  have  treated  on  an  equality  and 
as  a  comrade  a  superior  person,  whom  I  should  have 
been  contented  to  admire.  I  therefore  beg  your  par- 
don humbly  for  the  'My  dear  Balzac'  of  my  pre- 
ceding letters.  I  will  preserve  the  distance  of  '  Mon- 
sieur '  between  you  and  me." 1 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  the  uncompromising  com- 
mencement of  the  letter,  we  can  realise  the  extent  of 
Balzac's  success  at  this  time,  by  the  fact  that,  though 
Pichot  was  in  a  state  of  intense  irritation,  he  was 
still  anxious,  in  his  capacity  as  editor,  to  soothe  and 
content  the  indignant  writer,  and  to  induce  him  to 
continue  his  contributions  to  the  Revue  de  Paris. 

However,  Balzac  was  furious.  His  respect  for  his 
own  name  and  his  intense  literary  conscientiousness 
were  stronger  even  than  his  desire  for  money,  and 
it  was  a  very  black  crime  in  his  eyes  for  any  one  to 
produce  one  of  his  works  before  the  public  until  it 
had  been  brought  to  the  highest  possible  pitch  of 
perfection.  This  intense  anxiety  to  do  his  best,  which 
caused  him  the  most  painstaking  labour,  often  pressed 
very  hardly  on  managers  of  magazines.  He  was 
generally  paid  in  advance,  so  that  his  money  was  safe ; 
and  though  he  could  be  absolutely  trusted  to  finish 

1 "  Une  Page  Perdue  de  Honor6  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de 
Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul;  from  which  the  whole  account  of  the  dispute 
between  Balzac  and  Pichot  is  taken. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  115 

sooner  or  later  what  he  had  undertaken,  he  showed 
a  lofty  indifference  to  the  exigencies  of  monthly  pub- 
lication. Moreover,  as  is  shown  in  the  evidence  given 
later  on  during  his  lawsuit  with  the  Revue  de  Paris, 
he  would  sometimes,  in  his  haste  for  money,  accept 
new  engagements  when  he  already  had  a  plethora  of 
work  in  hand.  Nevertheless,  whatever  the  failures 
to  fulfil  a  contract  on  his  part  might  be,  he  was  im- 
placable towards  those  who  did  not  rightly  discharge 
their  obligations  to  him;  and  Pichot  was  never  for- 
given. In  September,  1832,  after  endless  disputes 
about  the  rate  and  terms  of  payment,  that  most  fertile 
source  of  recriminations  between  Balzac  and  his  vari- 
ous publishers  and  editors,  a  formal  treaty  was  drawn 
up  between  the  great  writer,  who  was  at  Sache,  and 
Amedee  Pichot,  as  director  of  the  Revue  de  Paris. 
By  this,  with  the  option  of  breaking  the  connection 
after  six  months,  Balzac  undertook  to  write  for  the 
Review  for  a  year,  being  still  entitled  during  that  time 
to  furnish  articles  to  the  Renovateur,  the  Journal 
Quotidienne  Politique,  and  L3 Artiste.  In  spite  of 
this  legal  document,  there  were  many  disputed  points ; 
and  the  letters  which  passed  between  the  two  men, 
and  which  now  began  with  the  formal  "Monsieur," 
were  full  of  bickerings  about  money  matters,  about 
Balzac's  delay  in  furnishing  copy,  and  about  the 
length  of  his  contributions.  On  one  occasion  Pichot 
is  severe  in  his  rebukes,  because  Balzac  has  prevented 
the  Duchesse  d'Abrantes  from  providing  a  promised 
article,  by  telling  her  that  his  own  writing  will  fill  two 
whole  numbers  of  the  Revue.  On  another,  it  is  curi- 


116  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

ous  to  find  that  Balzac,  who  was  rather  ashamed  of 
the  immoral  reputation  of  his  works,  thanks  M. 
Pichot  quite  humbly  for  suppressing  a  passage  in 
the  "Voyage  de  Paris  a  Java,"  which  the  director 
considered  unfit  for  family  perusal,  and  excuses  him- 
self on  the  subject  with  the  naive  explanation  that  he 
was  at  the  same  time  writing  the  "  Contes  Dro- 
latiques"!1  Finally,  in  March,  1833,  after  six 
months  of  the  treaty  had  expired,  Balzac  withdrew 
altogether  from  the  Revue  de  Paris.  He  gave  no 
explicit  explanation  for  this  step;  but  in  1836,  at  the 
time  of  his  lawsuit  with  the  Revue  de  Paris,  he  stated 
as  the  reason  for  his  desertion  that  he  considered 
Pichot  to  be  the  author,  under  different  pseudonyms, 
of  the  adverse  criticism  of  his  novels  which  appeared 
in  its  pages.  In  the  Revue  he  had,  among  other  nov- 
els, brought  out  the  beginning  of  "  L'Histoire  des 
Treize,"  and  the  parsimonious  shareholders  now  had 
the  mortification  of  seeing  the  great  man  carry  his 
wares  to  LSEurope  Litteraire;  while  the  Revue  de 
Paris,  in  consequence  of  his  desertion,  declined  in 
popularity. 

Balzac  was  now  fairly  launched  on  the  road  of 
literary  fame,  and  some  of  his  writings  at  this  time 
had  a  momentous  influence  on  his  life.  In  April, 
1830,  Madame  Hanska,  his  future  wife,  read  with 
delight,  in  her  far-off  chateau  in  Ukraine,  the 
"  Scenes  de  la  Vie  Privee,"  containing  the  "  Ven- 
detta," "  Les  Dangers  de  1'Inconduite,"  "  Le  Bal  de 

1 "  Autour   de    Honore   de    Balzac,"    by   Vicomte   de   Spoelberch   de 
Lovenjoul. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  117 

Sceaux,  ou  Le  Pair  de  France,"  "  Gloire  et  Malheur," 
"  La  Femme  Vertueuse,"  and  "  La  Paix  de  Menage  " 
—two  volumes  which  Balzac  had  published  as  quickly 
as  he  could,  to  counteract  the  alienation  of  his  women- 
readers  by  the  "  Physiologic  du  Mariage."  In  Au- 
gust, 1831,  appeared  "La  Peau  de  Chagrin,"  which 
so  disappointed  Madame  Hanska  by  its  cynical  tone, 
that  she  was  impelled  to  write  the  first  letter  from 
L'Etrangere,  which  reached  Balzac  on  February 
28th,  1832,  a  date  never  to  be  forgotten  in  the  annals 
of  his  life.  He  was  not,  however,  very  exact  in 
remembering  it  himself,  and  in  later  life  sometimes 
became  confused  in  his  calculations  between  the  num- 
ber of  years  since  he  had  received  this  letter,  and  the 
time  which  had  elapsed  since  he  first  had  the  joy  of 
meeting  her.  "La  Peau  de  Chagrin"  greatly  in- 
creased Balzac's  fame,  and  in  October,  1831,  another 
anonymous  correspondent,  Madame  la  Marquise  de 
Castries,  also  destined  to  exercise  a  strong,  though 
perhaps  transitory,  influence  over  Balzac,  had  written 
to  deprecate  its  moral  tone,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
"Physiologic  du  Mariage."  Balzac,  answered  her 
that  "  La  Peau  de  Chagrin "  was  only  intended  to 
be  part  of  a  whole,  and  must  not  be  judged  alone; 
and  the  same  idea  is  enlarged  upon  in  a  letter  to  the 
Comte  de  Montalembert,1  written  in  August,  1831, 
which  shows  Balzac's  extreme  anxiety  not  to  disso- 
ciate his  writings  from  the  cause  of  religion.  In  it 
he  explains,  with  much  insistence,  that,  in  spite  of 

1  Letter?   sent   by   the   Vicomte  de   Spoelberch  de   Lovenjoul   to   the 
.Revue  Bleue,  November  14th,  1903. 


118  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

the  apparent  scepticism  of  "La  Peau  de  Chagrin," 
the  idea  of  God  is  really  the  mainspring  of  the  whole 
book,  and  on  these  grounds  he  begs  for  a  review  in 
UAvenir.  The  letter  also  contains  an  announcement 
which  is  interesting  as  a  proof  that  two  years  before 
the  date  given  by  his  sister,  the  idea  of  „  his  great 
systematic  work  was  already  formulated,  and  that  in 
his  imagination  it  had  assumed  colossal  proportions. 
He  says :  '  La  Peau  de  Chagrin '  is  the  formula 
of  human  life,  an  abstraction  made  from  individuali- 
ties, and,  as  M.  Ballanche  says,  everything  in  it  is 
myth  and  allegory.  It  is,  therefore,  the  point  of 
departure  for  my  work.  Afterwards  individualities 
and  particular  existences,  from  the  most  humble  to 
those  of  the  King  and  of  the  Priest,  the  highest  ex- 
pressions of  our  society,  will  group  themselves  accord- 
ing to  their  rank.  In  these  pictures  I  shall  follow 
the  effect  of  Thought  on  Life.  Then  another  work, 
entitled  'History  of  the  Succession  of  the  Marquis 
of  Carabas,'  will  formulate  the  life  of  nations,  the 
phases  of  their  governments,  and  will  show  decidedly 
that  politics  turn  in  one  circle,  and  are  evidently 
stationary;  and  that  repose  can  only  be  found  in  the 
strong  government  of  a  hierarchy." 

The  "  Peau  de  Chagrin,"  which  is  a  powerful 
satire  on  the  vice  and  selfishness  of  the  day,  suffers 
in  its  allegorical,  though  not  in  its  humanly  inter- 
esting side,  by  the  vivid  picture  it  gives  of  Balzac's 
youth;  as,  in  spite  of  the  introduction  of  the  influence 
of  the  magic  Ass  Skin,  the  account  of  Raphael  in  the 
early  part  of  the  book,  as  the  frugal,  determined 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  119 

genius  with  high  intellectual  aspirations,  does  not 
harmonise  with  his  weak,  despicable  character  as  it 
unfolds  itself  subsequently.  The  critics  exercised 
their  minds  greatly  about  the  identity  of  the  heroines, 
the  beautiful  and  heartless  Fedora — in  whom  appar- 
ently many  ladies  recognised  their  own  portrait — and 
the  humble  and  exquisite  Pauline,  type  of  de- 
voted self-forgetting  love.  Mademoiselle  Pelissier, 
who  possessed  an  income  of  twenty-five  thousand 
francs,  and  had  a  house  in  the  Rue  Neuve-du-Lux- 
embourg,  where  she  held  a  salon  much  frequented  by 
political  personalities  of  the  day,  was  identified  by 
popular  gossip  as  the  model  of  Fedora.  It  was  said 
by  Parisian  society  that  Balzac  was  anxious  to  marry 
her,  but  that  the  lady,  who  afterwards  became  Ma- 
dame Rossini,  refused  to  listen  to  his  suit,  though  she 
confessed  to  a  great  admiration  for  his  fascinating 
black  eyes. 

The  original  of  Pauline  has  never  been  discovered, 
but,  possibly  with  a  few  traits  borrowed  from  Ma- 
dame de  Berny,  she  is  what  Balzac  describes  in  the  last 
pages  of  "  La  Peau  de  Chagrin "  as  an  "  ideal,  as  a 
visionary  face  in  the  fire,  a  face  with  unimaginable 
delicate  outlines,  a  floating  apparition,  which  no 
chance  will  ever  bring  back  again." 

Since  the  year  1830  Balzac  had  lodged  in  the  Rue 
Cassini,  a  little,  unfrequented  street  near  the  Obser- 
vatory, with  a  wall  running  along  one  side,  on  which 
was  written  "L'Absolu,  marchand  de  briques,"  a 
name  which  Theophile  Gautier  fancies  may  have 
suggested  to  him  the  title  of  his  novel  "  La  Recherche 


120  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

de  1'Absolu."  Borget,  Balzac's  great  friend  and 
confidant,  had  rooms  in  the  same  house;  and  later  on, 
when  Borget  was  on  one  of  his  frequent  journeys, 
these  rooms  were  occupied  by  Jules  Sandeau,  after 
his  parting  with  George  Sand.  In  despair  at  her 
desertion,  he  tried  to  commit  suicide;  and  Balzac, 
touched  with  pity  at  his  forlorn  condition,  proposed 
that  he  should  come  to  Borget's  rooms,  and  took  com- 
plete and  kindly  charge  of  him — a  generosity  which 
Sandeau,  after  having  lived  at  Balzac's  expense  for 
two  years,  repaid  in  1836,  by  deserting  his  benefactor 
when  he  was  in  difficulties. 

Balzac  was  now  in  the  full  swing  of  work.  He 
writes  to  the  Duchesse  d'Abrantes  in  1831 11  "  Write, 
I  cannot!  the  fatigue  is  too  great.  You  do  not  know 
what  I  owed  in  1828,  above  what  I  possessed.  I  had 
only  my  pen  with  which  to  earn  my  living,  and  to  pay 
a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  francs.  In  several 
months  I  shall  have  paid  everything,  and  I  shall  have 
arranged  my  poor  little  household ;  but  for  six  months 
I  have  all  the  troubles  of  poverty,  I  enjoy  my  last 
miseries.  I  have  begged  from  nobody,  I  have  not 
held  out  my  hand  for  a  penny ;  I  have  hidden  my  sor- 
rows, and  my  wounds." 

Poor  Balzac!  over  and  over  again  we  hear  the  same 
story  about  the  beautiful  time  in  the  future,  which 
he  saw  coming  nearer  and  nearer,  but  which  always 
evaded  his  grasp  at  the  last.  Very  often,  when  he 
appears  grasping  and  dictatorial  in  his  business  deal- 
ings, we  may  trace  his  want  of  urbanity  to  some 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  131. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  121 

pressing  pecuniary  anxiety,  which  he  was  too  proud 
to  reveal.  No  doubt  these  difficulties  often  sprang 
from  his  extraordinary  want  of  reflection  and  pru- 
dence, as  his  desire  to  make  a  dashing  appearance 
before  the  world  led  him  frequently  into  the  most 
senseless  extravagance.  For  instance,  when  he  went 
out  of  Paris  in  June,  1832,  intending  to  travel  for 
several  months,  he  left  behind  him  two  horses  with 
nothing  to  do,  but  naturally  requiring  a  groom,  food, 
and  stabling;  and  it  was  not  till  the  end  of  July  that, 
on  his  mother's  recommendation,  he  sent  orders  that 
they  were  to  be  sold.  His  money  affairs  are  so  com- 
plicated, and  his  own  accounts  of  them  so  conflicting, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  understand  them  thoroughly. 
Apparently,  however,  from  1827  to  1836,  he  could 
not  support  himself  and  satisfy  his  creditors  without 
drawing  bills.  These  he  often  could  not  meet,  and 
had  to  renew;  and  the  accumulated  interest  on 
these  obligations  formed  a  floating  debt,  which  was 
from  time  to  time  increased  by  some  new  extrav- 
agance. 

In  his  vain  struggles  to  escape,  he  worked  as  surely 
no  man  has  ever  worked  before  or  since.  In  1830  he 
brought  out  about  seventy,  and  in  1831  about  seventy- 
five  publications,  including  novels,  and  articles  serious 
and  satirical,  on  politics  and  general  topics;  and  in 
twelve  years,  from  1830  to  1842,  he  wrote  seventy- 
nine  novels  alone,  not  counting  his  shorter  compo- 
sitions. Werdet,  who  became  his  publisher  in  1834, 
gives  a  curious  account  of  his  doings;  and  this  may, 
with  slight  modifications,  be  accepted  as  a  picture 


122  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

of  his  usual  mode  of  life  when  in  the  full  swing  of 
composition. 

He  usually  went  to  bed  at  eight  o'clock,  after  a 
light  dinner,  accompanied  by  a  glass  or  two  of  Vou- 
vray,  his  favourite  wine ;  and  he  was  seated  at  his  desk 
by  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  He  wrote  from  that 
time  till  six,  only  occasionally  refreshing  himself 
with  coffee  from  a  coffee-pot  which  was  permanently 
in  the  fireplace.  At  six  he  had  his  bath,  in  which  he 
remained  for  an  hour,  and  his  servant  afterwards 
brought  him  more  coffee.  Werdet  was  then  admitted 
to  bring  proofs,  take  away  the  corrected  ones,  and 
wrest,  if  possible,  fresh  manuscript  from  him.  From 
nine  he  wrote  till  noon,  when  he  breakfasted  on  two 
boiled  eggs  and  some  bread,  and  from  one  till  six 
the  labour  of  correction  went  on  again.  This  unnat- 
ural life  lasted  for  six  weeks  or  two  months,  during 
which  time  he  refused  to  see  even  his  most  intimate 
friends ;  and  then  he  plunged  again  into  the  ordinary 
affairs  of  life,  or  mysteriously  and  suddenly  disap- 
peared— to  be  next  heard  of  in  some  distant  part  of 
France,  or  perhaps  in  Corsica,  Sardinia,  or  Italy.  It 
is  not  surprising  that  even  in  these  early  days,  and  in 
spite  of  Balzac's  exuberant  vitality,  there  are  fre- 
quent mentions  of  terrible  fatigue  and  lassitude,  and 
that  the  services  of  his  lifelong  friend,  Dr.  Nacquart, 
were  often  in  requisition,  though  his  warnings  about 
the  dangers  of  overwork  were  generally  unheeded. 

Even  with  Balzac's  extraordinary  power  of  work, 
the  number  of  his  writings  is  remarkable,  when  we 
consider  the  labour  their  composition  cost  him.  Some- 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  123 

times,  according  to  Theophile  Gautier,  he  bestowed 
a  whole  night's  labour  on  one  phrase,  and  wrote  it 
over  and  over  again  a  hundred  times,  the  exact  words 
that  he  wanted  only  coming  to  him  after  he  had  ex- 
hausted all  the  possible  approximate  forms.  When 
he  intended  to  begin  a  novel,  and  had  thought  of  and 
lived  in  a  subject  for  some  time,  he  wrote  a  plan  of  his 
proposed  work  in  several  pages,  and  dispatched  this 
to  the  printer,  who  separated  the  different  headings, 
and  sent  them  back,  each  on  a  large  sheet  of  blank 
paper.  Balzac  read  these  headings  attentively,  and 
applied  to  them  his  critical  faculty.  Some  he  rejected 
altogether,  others  he  corrected,  but  everywhere  he 
made  additions.  Lines  were  drawn  from  the  begin- 
ning, the  middle,  and  the  end  of  each  sentence  towards 
the  margin  of  the  paper ;  each  line  leading  to  an  inter- 
polation, a  development,  an  added  epithet  or  an  ad- 
verb. At  the  end  of  several  hours  the  sheet  of  paper 
looked  like  a  plan  of  fireworks,  and  later  on  the  con- 
fusion was  further  complicated  by  signs  of  all  sorts 
crossing  the  lines,  while  scraps  of  paper  covered  with 
amplifications  were  pinned  or  stuck  with  sealing-wax 
to  the  margin.  This  sheet  of  hieroglyphics  was  sent 
to  the  printing-office,  and  was  the  despair  of  the 
typographers;  who,  as  Balzac  overheard,  stipulated 
for  only  an  hour  each  in  turn  at  the  correction  of  his 
proofs.  Next  day  the  amplified  placards  came  back, 
and  Balzac  added  further  details,  and  laboured  to 
fit  the  expression  exactly  to  the  idea,  and  to  attain 
perfection  of  outline  and  symmetry  of  proportion. 
Sometimes  one  episode  dwarfed  the  rest,  or  a  second- 


124  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

ary  figure  usurped  the  central  position  on  his  canvas, 
and  then  he  would  heroically  efface  the  results  of  four 
or  five  nights'  labour.  Six,  seven,  even  ten  times, 
were  the  proofs  sent  backwards  and  forwards,  before 
the  great  writer  was  satisfied. 

In  the  Figaro  of  December  15th,  1837,  Edouard 
Ourliac  gives  a  burlesque  account  of  the  confusion 
caused  in  the  printing-offices  by  Balzac's  peculiar 
methods  of  composition.  This  is  an  extract  from  the 
article: 

"Let  us  sing,  drink  and  embrace,  like  the  chorus 
of  an  opera  comique.  Let  us  stretch  our  calves,  and 
turn  on  our  toes  like  ballet-dancers.  Let  us  at  last 
rejoice:  the  Figaro,  without  getting  the  credit  of  it, 
has  overcome  the  elements  and  all  sublunary  cata- 
clysms. 

"  Hercules  is  only  a  rascal,  the  apples  of  Hesperides 
only  turnips,  the  siege  of  Troy  but  a  revolt  of  the 
national  guard.  The  Figaro  has  just  conquered 
*  Cesar  Birotteau '  ! 

"Never  have  the  angry  gods,  never  have  Juno, 
Neptune,  M.  de  Rambuteau,  or  the  Prefect  of  Police, 
opposed  to  Jason,  Theseus,  or  walkers  in  Paris,  more 
obstacles,  monsters,  ruins,  dragons,  demolitions,  than 
these  two  unfortunate  octavos  have  fought  against. 

"We  have  them  at  last,  and  we  know  what  they 
have  cost.  The  public  will  only  have  the  trouble  of 
reading  them.  That  will  be  a  pleasure.  As  to  M.  de 
Balzac — twenty  days'  work,  two  handfuls  of  paper, 
one  more  beautiful  book:  that  counts  for  nothing. 

"  However  it  may  be,  it  is  a  typographical  exploit, 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  125 

a  literary  and  industrial  tour  de  force  worthy  to  be 
remembered.  Writer,  editor,  and  printer  have  de- 
served more  or  less  from  their  country.  Posterity 
will  talk  of  the  compositions,  and  our  descendants 
will  regret  that  they  do  not  know  the  names  of  the 
apprentices.  I  already,  like  them,  regret  it,  otherwise 
I  would  mention  them. 

"  The  Figaro  had  promised  the  book  on  December 
15th,  and  M.  de  Balzac  began  it  on  November  17th. 
M.  de  Balzac  and  the  Figaro  both  have  the  strange 
habit  of  keeping  their  word.  The  printing  office 
was  ready,  and  stamping  its  foot  like  a  restive 
charger. 

"  M.  de  Balzac  sends  two  hundred  pages  pencilled 
in  five  nights  of  fever.  One  knows  his  way.  It  was 
a  sketch,  a  chaos,  an  apocalypse,  a  Hindoo  poem. 

"  The  printing-office  paled.  The  delay  is  short, 
the  writing  unheard  of.  They  transform  the  mon- 
ster; they  translate  it  as  much  as  possible  into  known 
signs.  The  cleverest  still  understand  nothing.  They 
take  it  to  the  author. 

"The  author  sends  back  the  first  proofs,  glued 
on  to  enormous  pages,  posters,  screens.  It  is  now 
that  you  may  shiver  and  feel  pity.  The  appearance 
of  these  sheets  is  monstrous.  From  each  sign,  from 
each  printed  word,  go  pen  lines,  which  radiate  and 
meander  like  a  Congreve  rocket,  and  spread  them- 
selves out  at  the  margin  in  a  luminous  rain  of  phrases, 
epithets,  and  substantives,  underlined,  crossed,  mixed, 
erased,  superposed:  the  effect  is  dazzling. 

"  Imagine  four  or  five  hundred  arabesques  of  this 


126  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

sort,  interlaced,  knotted,  climbing  and  sliding  from 
one  margin  to  another,  and  from  the  south  to  the 
north.  Imagine  twelve  maps  on  the  top  of  each 
other,  entangling  towns,  rivers,  and  mountains — a 
skein  tangled  by  a  cat,  all  the  hieroglyphics  of  the 
dynasty  of  Pharaoh,  or  the  fireworks  of  twenty  fes- 
tivities. 

"At  this  sight  the  printing-office  does  not  rejoice. 
The  compositors  strike  their  breasts,  the  printing- 
presses  groan,  the  foremen  tear  their  hair,  their  ap- 
prentices lose  their  heads.  The  most  intelligent 
attack  the  proofs,  and  recognise  Persian,  others  Mala- 
gash,  some  the  symbolic  characters  of  Vishnu.  They 
work  by  chance  and  by  the  grace  of  God. 

"  Next  day  M.  de  Balzac  returns  two  pages  of  pure 
Chinese.  The  delay  is  only  fifteen  days.  A  generous 
foreman  offers  to  blow  out  his  brains. 

"  Two  new  sheets  arrive,  written  very  legibly  in 
Siamese.  Two  workmen  lose  their  sight  and  the  small 
command  of  language  they  possessed. 

'  The  proofs  are  thus  sent  backwards  and  forwards 
seven  times. 

"  Several  symptoms  of  excellent  French  begin  to 
be  recognised,  even  some  connection  between  the 
phrases  is  observed." 

So  the  article  proceeds;  always  in  a  tone  of  comic 
good-temper,  but  pointing  to  a  very  real  grievance 
and  point  of  dispute;  and  helping  the  reader  to 
realise  the  long  friction  which  went  on,  and  finally 
resulted  in  the  unanimity  with  which  publishers  and 
editors  turned  against  Balzac  after  his  famous  law- 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  127 

suit,  and  showed  a  vindictive  hate  which  at  first  sight 
is  surprising.  However,  in  this  case  the  matter  ends 
happily,  as  the  article  closes  with: 

"  It  ["  Cesar  Birotteau  "  ]  is  now  merely  a  work  in 
two  volumes,  an  immense  picture,  a  whole  poem,  com- 
posed, written,  and  corrected  fifteen  times  in  the  same 
number  of  days — composed  in  twenty  days  by  M. 
de  Balzac  in  spite  of  the  printer's  office,  composed 
in  twenty  days  by  the  printer's  office  in  spite  of  M. 
de  Balzac. 

"  It  is  true  that  at  the  same  time  M.  de  Balzac  was 
employing  forty  printers  at  another  printing-office. 
We  do  not  examine  here  the  value  of  the  book.  It 
was  made  marvellously  and  marvellously  quickly. 
Whatever  it  is,  it  can  only  be  a  chef  d'ceuvre!" 


CHAPTER  VII 

1832 


Crisis  in  Balzac's  private  life — "  Contes  Drolatiques" — Madame 
Hanska's   life    before    she    met    Balzac — Description    of 
her  appearance —    Louis  Lambert" — Disinterested- 
ness of  Madame  de  Berny — Balzac  and  his 
mother — Balzac  and  the  Marquise  de 
Castries — His   despair 

THE  year  1832  was  a  crisis  and  a  turning-point  in 
the  history  of  Balzac's  private  life. 

Old  relations  changed  their  aspect;  he  received  a 
terrible  and  mortifying  wound  to  his  heart  and  to 
his  vanity;  and  while  he  staggered  under  this  blow,  a 
new  interest,  not  in  the  beginning  absorbing,  but 
destined  in  time  to  engulf  all  others,  crept  at  first 
almost  unnoticed  into  his  life. 

He  was  now  thirty-three  years  old;  it  was  time 
that  he  should  perform  the  duty  of  a  French  citizen 
and  should  settle  down  and  marry;  and  as  a  prelim- 
inary, it  seemed  necessary  that  Madame  de  Berny 
should  no  longer  continue  to  occupy  her  predominant 
place  in  his  life.  She  was,  as  we  know,  twenty-two 
years  older  than  he,  and  was  a  woman  capable  not 
only  of  romantic  attachment,  but  also  of  the  most 
disinterested  conduct  where  her  affections  were  con- 

128 


129 

cerned.  She  saw  clearly  that,  having  formed  Balzac, 
helped  him  practically,  taught  him,  given  him  useful 
introductions — in  short,  made  him — the  time  had  now 
come  when  it  would  be  for  his  good  that  she  should 
retire  partially  into  the  background;  and  she  had  the 
courage  to  conceive,  and  the  power  to  make,  the  sacri- 
fice. 

He,  on  his  side,  felt  the  idea  of  the  proposed 
separation  keenly,  and  never  forgot  all  his  life  what 
he  owed  to  the  "dilecta,"  or  ceased  to  feel  a  deep 
and  faithful  affection  for  her.  Still,  for  him  there 
were  compensations,  which  did  not  exist  for  the 
woman  who  was  growing  old.  He  was  famous,  was 
on  the  way  to  attain  his  goal;  and  he  was  regarded 
as  the  champion  of  misunderstood  and  misused 
women.  Therefore,  as  the  species  has  always  been  a 
large  one,  letters  poured  in  upon  him  from  all  parts 
of  Europe — England  being  the  exception — letters 
telling  him  how  exactly  he  had  gauged  the  circum- 
stances, sentiments,  and  misfortunes  of  his  unknown 
correspondents,  asking  his  advice,  expressing  intense 
admiration  for  his  writings,  and  pouring  out  the 
inmost  feelings  and  experiences  of  the  writers.  The 
position  was  intoxicating  for  the  man  who,  a  few 
years  before,  had  been  unknown  and  disregarded; 
and  the  fact  that  Balzac  never  forgot  his  old  friend- 
ships in  the  excitement  of  the  adulation  lavished  upon 
him,  is  a  proof  that  his  own  belief  in  the  real  stead- 
fastness of  his  character  was  not  mistaken. 

Among  these  unknown  correspondents,  there  were 
two  who  specially  interested  him.  One  of  these  was 


130  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

the  Marquise  de  Castries,  who,  though  rather  under 
a  cloud  at  this  time,  was  one  of  the  most  aristocratic 
stars  of  the  Faubourg  Saint- Germain,  and  sister-in- 
law  to  the  Due  de  Fitz-James,  with  whom  Balzac 
was  already  connected  in  several  literary  under- 
takings. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  she  wrote  anonymously 
towards  the  end  of  September,  1831,  to  complain  of 
the  moral  tone  of  the  "  Physiologic  du  Mariage  "  and 
of  "  La  Peau  de  Chagrin."  In  Balzac's  reply,  which 
was  dispatched  on  February  28th,  1832,  he  thanked 
her  for  the  proof  of  confidence  she  had  shown  in 
making  herself  known  to  him;  and  in  wishing  for 
his  acquaintance;  and  said  that  he  looked  forward  to 
many  hours  spent  in  her  society,  hours  during  which 
he  would  not  need  to  pose  as  an  artist  or  literary  man, 
but  could  simply  be  himself.1 

Separated  from  her  husband,  and  a  most  accom- 
plished coquette,  the  Marquise  was  recovering  from  a 
serious  love-affair,  when  she  summoned  Balzac  to 
afford  her  amusement  and  distraction.  Delicate  and 
fragile,  her  face  was  rather  too  long  for  perfect 
beauty,  but  there  was  something  spiritual  and  slender 
about  it,  which  recalled  the  faces  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Her  health  had  been  shattered  by  a  hunting  accident, 
and  her  expression  was  habitually  one  of  smiling 
melancholy  and  a  hidden  suffering.  Her  beautiful 
Venetian  red  hair  grew  above  a  high  white  forehead; 
and  in  addition  to  the  attractiveness  of  her  elegant 
svelte  figure,  she  possessed  in  the  highest  degree  the 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  141. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  131 

all-powerful  seductive  influence  which  we  call 
"charm." 

Reclining  gracefully  in  a  long  chair,  she  received 
her  intimates  in  a  small,  simple  drawing-room,  fur- 
nished in  old-fashioned  style,  with  cushions  of  ancient 
velvet  and  eighteenth-century  screens — a  room  instinct 
with  the  aristocratic  aroma  of  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Germain.  There  Balzac  went  eagerly  during  the 
spring  of  1832,  and  imbibed  the  strange  old-world 
atmosphere  of  the  exclusive  Faubourg,  of  which  he 
has  given  a  masterly  picture  in  the  "Duchesse  de 
Langeais."  In  this  he  shows  that  by  reason  of  its 
selfishness,  its  divisions,  and  want  of  patriotism  and 
large-mindedness,  the  Faubourg  Saint- Germain  had 
abrogated  the  proud  position  it  might  have  held,  and 
was  now  an  obsolete  institution,  aloof  and  cornered, 
wasting  its  powers  on  frivolity  and  the  worship  of 
etiquette.  At  first,  gratified  vanity  at  his  selection  as 
an  intimate  by  so  great  a  lady,  and  pleasure  at  the 
opportunity  given  him  for  the  study  of  what  was 
separated  from  the  ordinary  world  by  an  impassable 
barrier,  were  Balzac's  chief  inducements  for  frequent 
visits  to  the  Rue  de  Varenne.  Gradually,  however, 
the  caressing  tones  of  Madame  de  Castries'  voice,  the 
quiet  grace  of  her  language,  and  her  infinite  variety, 
found  their  way  to  his  heart,  and  he  fell  madly  in 
love. 

Speaking  of  her  afterwards  in  the  "Duchesse  de 
Langeais,"  which  was  written  in  the  utmost  bitter- 
ness, when  he  had  been,  according  to  his  own  view, 
led  on,  played  with,  and  deceived  by  the  fascinating 


132  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

Marquise,  Balzac  described  her  thus:  She  was 
"  eminently  a  woman,  and  essentially  a  coquette, 
Parisian  to  the  core,  loving  the  brilliancy  of  the 
world  and  its  amusements,  reflecting  not  at  all,  or 
reflecting  too  late;  of  a  natural  imprudence  which 
rose  at  times  almost  to  poetic  heights,  deliriously  inso- 
lent, yet  humble  in  the  depths  of  her  heart,  asserting 
strength  like  a  reed  erect,  but,  like  the  reed,  ready  to 
bend  beneath  a  firm  hand;  talking  much  of  religion, 
not  loving  it,  and  yet  prepared  to  accept  it  as  a 
possible  finality." 

In  the  same  book  are  several  interesting  remarks 
about  Armand  de  Montriveau,  the  lover  of  the 
Duchesse  de  Langeais,  who  is,  in  many  points,  Balzac 
under  another  name.  On  one  page  we  read:  "He 
seemed  to  have  reached  some  crisis  in  his  life,  but  all 
took  place  within  his  own  breast,  and  he  confided 
nothing  to  the  world  without.''  In  another  place  is 
a  description  of  Montriveau's  appearance.  "His 
head,  which  was  large  and  square,  had  the  charac- 
teristic trait  of  an  abundant  mass  of  black  hair,  which 
surrounded  his  face  in  a  way  that  recalled  General 
Kleber,  whom  indeed  he  also  resembled  in  the  vigour 
of  his  bearing,  the  shape  of  his  face,  the  tranquil 
courage  of  his  eye,  and  the  expression  of  in- 
ward ardour  which  shone  out  through  his  strong 
features. 

He  was  of  medium  height,  broad  in  the  chest,  and 
muscular  as  a  lion.  When  he  walked,  his  carriage, 
his  step,  his  least  gesture,  bespoke  a  consciousness 
of  power  which  was  imposing;  there  was  something 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  133 

even  despotic  about  it.  He  seemed  aware  that  nothing 
could  oppose  his  will;  possibly  because  he  willed  only 
that  which  was  right.  Nevertheless,  he  was,  like  all 
really  strong  men,  gentle  in  speech,  simple  in  manner, 
and  naturally  kind."  Certainly  Balzac,  as  usual,  did 
not  err  on  the  side  of  modesty! 

Curiously  enough,  the  very  day — February  28th, 
1832 — on  which  Balzac  wrote  to  accept  the  offer  of 
the  Marquise  de  Castries'  friendship,  wras  the  day 
that  the  first  letter  from  L'Etrangere  reached  him. 
At  first  sight  there  was  nothing  to  distinguish  this 
most  momentous  letter  from  others  which  came  to 
him  by  almost  every  post,  or  to  indicate  that  it  was 
destined  to  change  the  whole  current  of  his  life.  It 
was  sent  by  an  unknown  woman,  and  the  object  of 
the  writer  was,  while  expressing  intense  admiration 
for  Balzac's  work,  to  criticise  the  view  of  the  feminine 
sex  taken  by  him  in  "  La  Peau  de  Chagrin."  His 
correspondent  begged  him  to  renounce  ironical  por- 
trayals of  woman,  which  denied  the  pure  and  noble 
role  destined  for  her  by  Heaven,  and  to  return  to  the 
lofty  ideal  of  the  sex  depicted  in  "  Scenes  de  la  Vie 
Privee." 

This  letter,  which  was  addressed  to  Balzac  to  the 
care  of  Gosselin,  the  publisher  of  "La  Peau  de 
Chagrin,"  has  never  been  found.  There  must  have 
been  something  remarkable  about  the  wording  and 
tone  of  it;  as  Balzac  received  many  such  effusions, 
but  was  so  much  impressed  by  this  one,  and  by  the 
communications  which  followed,  that  he  decided  to 
dedicate  "  L'Expiation"  to  his  unknown  correspon- 


134  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

dent.  This  story  he  was  writing  when  he  received 
her  first  letter,  and  it  formed  part  of  the  enlarged 
edition  of  the  "  Scenes  de  la  Vie  Privee  "  which  was 
published  in  May,  1832.  On  communicating  this 
project,  however,  to  Madame  de  Berny,  she  strongly 
objected  to  the  offer  of  this  extraordinary  honour 
to  "  L'Etrangere  " ;  and  now  doubly  obedient  to  her 
wishes,  and  anxious  not  to  hurt  her  feelings,  he  aban- 
doned the  idea  after  the  book  had  been  printed.  In 
January,  1833,  in  his  first  letter  to  Madame  Hanska 
he  explained  the  matter  at  length,  and  sent  her  a  copy 
which  had  not  been  altered,  and  which  had  her  seal 
on  the  title-page.  The  book  sent  her  has  disappeared ; 
but  examining  some  copies  of  the  second  edition  of 
the  "  Scenes,"  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Loven- 
joul  found  that  a  page  had  been  glued  against  the 
binding,  and,  detaching  this  carefully,  discovered  the 
design  of  the  wax  seal,  and  the  dedication  "Diis 
ignotis,  28th  February,  1832,"1  the  date  on  which 
Balzac  received  the  first  letter  from  "  L'lJtrangere." 
This  letter  gave  Balzac  many  delightful  hours,  as, 
when  he  was  able  to  write  to  her,  he  explained  to 
Madame  Hanska.  In  his  pride  and  satisfaction,  he 
showed  it  to  many  friends,  Madame  Carraud  being 
among  the  number;  but  she,  with  her  usual  rather 
provoking  common  sense,  refused  to  share  his  enthu- 
siasm, and  suggested  that  it  might  have  been  written 
as  a  practical  joke.  To  this  insinuation  Balzac  gave 
no  credence;  he  naturally  found  it  easy  to  believe  in 
one  more  enthusiastic  foreign  admirer,  and  he  was 

1I  have  seen  this. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  135 

seriously  troubled  by  the  fact  that  the  first  dizain  of 
the  "  Contes  Drolatiques,"  which  certainly  would  not 
satisfy  his  correspondent's  views  on  the  lofty  mission 
of  womanhood,  was  likely  to  appear  shortly.  How- 
ever, whether  she  did  not  read  the  first  dizain  of  the 
"  Contes,"  which  appeared  in  April,  1832,  or  whether 
the  perusal  of  them  showed  her  more  strongly  than 
before  that  Balzac  was  really  in  need  of  good  advice, 
Madame  Hanska  did  not  show  her  displeasure  by 
breaking  off  her  correspondence  with  him.  Balzac 
had  much  to  occupy  his  mind  in  1832,  as  he  was  con- 
scientiously, though  not  successfully,  trying  to  make 
himself  agreeable  to  the  lady  selected  as  his  wife  by 
his  family.  At  the  same  time,  while  with  regret  and 
trouble  in  his  heart  he  tried  to  relegate  Madame  de 
Berny  to  the  position  of  an  ordinary  friend,  and  felt 
the  delightful  agitation,  followed  by  bitter  mortifica- 
tion, of  his  intercourse  with  Madame  de  Castries,  we 
must  remember  that  from  time  to  time  he  received  a 
flowery  epistle  from  Russia,  written  in  the  turgid  and 
rather  bombastic  style  peculiar  to  Madame  Hanska. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  can  imagine  the  interest  and 
excitement  felt  by  the  Chatelaine  of  Wierzchownia 
as  she  wrote,  and  secretly  dispatched  to  the  well- 
known  author,  the  sentimental  outpourings  of  her 
soul.  The  composition  of  these  letters  must  certainly 
have  supplied  a  savour  to  a  rather  flavourless  life ;  for 
it  was  dull  in  that  far-off  chateau  in  Ukraine,  which, 
as  Balzac  described  it  afterwards,  was  as  large  as  the 
Louvre,  and  was  surrounded  by  territories  as  exten- 
sive as  a  French  Department.  There  were  actually  a 


136  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

carcel  lamp  and  a  hospital — which  seem  a  curious  con- 
junction— on  the  estate,  and  there  were  looking- 
glasses  ten  feet  high  in  the  rooms,  but  no  hangings 
on  the  walls.  Possibly  Madame  Hanska  did  not  miss 
these,  but  what  she  did  miss  was  society.  She,  M.  de 
Hanski,1  Anna's  governess,  Mile.  Henrietta  Borel, 
and  last,  but  not  least,  the  beloved  Anna  herself,  the 
only  child,  on  whom  Madame  Hanska  lavished 
the  most  passionate  love,  were  a  small  party  in  the 
chateau;  and  besides  two  Polish  relations,  Miles. 
Denise  and  Severine  Wylezynska,  who  generally 
inhabited  the  summer-house,  christened  by  Balzac 
"La  Demoiselliere,"  they  were  the  only  civilised 
people  in  the  midst  of  a  huge  waste  populated  by 
peasants.  M.  de  Hanski  often  suffered  from  "blue 
devils,"  which  did  not  make  him  a  cheerful  com- 
panion; and  when  Madame  Hanska  had  performed 
a  few  graceful  duties,  as  chatelaine  to  the  poor  of  the 
neighbourhood,  there  was  no  occupation  left  except 
reading  or  writing  letters.  She  was  an  intelligent 
and  intellectual  woman;  and  Balzac's  novels,  not  at 
first  fully  appreciated  in  France  because  of  their 
deficiencies  in  style,  wTere  eagerly  seized  on  in  Ger- 
many, Austria,  and  Russia.  She  read  them  with 
delight ;  and  her  natural  desire  for  action,  her  longing 
also  to  pour  out,  herself  unknown,  the  secret  aspira- 
tions and  yearnings  of  her  heart  to  some  one  who 
would  understand  her,  prompted  the  first  letter; 
which,  according  to  M.  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul, 

1  Balzac  invariably  talks  of  M.  de  Hanski  and  Madame  Hanska,  as  do 
other  contemporary  writers. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  137 

was  dictated  by  her  to  Anna's  governess,  Mile.  Hen- 
riette  Borel.  So  she  started  lightly  on  the  road  which 
was  to  lead  her,  the  leisured  and  elegant  great  lady 
suffering  only  from  ennui,  to  the  period  of  her  life 
during  which  she  would  toil  hour  after  hour  at  writ- 
ing, would  be  overwhelmed  by  business,  pestered  by 
duns  and  creditors,  overworked,  overburdened,  and 
overworried.  She  was  certainly  not  very  fortunate, 
for  she  seems  never  to  have  experienced  the  passionate 
love  which  might  have  made  up  for  everything. 

Till  the  time  when  she  first  put  herself  into  com- 
munication with  Balzac,  her  life  had  not  been  cheer- 
ful. A  member  of  a  Polish  great  family,  the 
Countess  Eve  Rzewuska  was  born  at  the  Chateau  of 
Pohrbyszcze  on  January  25th,  1804  or  1806.  She  was 
one  of  a  large  family,  having  three  brothers  and  three 
sisters,  nearly  all  of  whom  played  distinguished  parts 
in  France  or  Russia;  and  her  eldest  brother,  Count 
Henry  Rzewuski,  was  one  of  the  most  popular  writers 
of  Poland.  In  1818  or  1822  she  married  the  rich  M. 
Vencelas  de  Hanski,  who  was  twenty-five  years  her 
senior,  an  old  gentleman  of  limited  mind;  pompous, 
unsociable,  and  often  depressed;  but  apparently  fond 
of  his  wife,  and  willing  to  allow  her  the  travelling 
and  society  which  he  did  not  himself  care  for. 
Madame  Hanska  had  many  troubles  in  her  married 
life,  as  she  lost  four  out  of  her  five  children;  and 
being  an  intensely  maternal  woman,  the  deepest  feel- 
ings of  her  heart  were  henceforward  devoted  to  Anna, 
her  only  surviving  child,  whom  she  never  left  for  a 
day  till  the  marriage  of  her  darling  in  1846,  and  of 


138  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

whom,  after  the  separation,  she  could  not  think  with- 
out tears. 

She  was  a  distinctly  different  type  from  the  gentle, 
devoted  Madame  de  Berny,  whose  French  attributes 
were  modified  by  the  sentiment  and  romance  she 
inherited  from  her  Teutonic  ancestors;  or  from 
Madame  de  Castries,  the  fragile  and  brilliant  co- 
quette. Mentally  and  physically  there  was  a  certain 
massiveness  in  Madame  Hanska  which  was  absent  in 
her  rivals.  She  was  characterised  by  an  egoism  and 
self-assertiveness  unknown  to  the  "dilecta";  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  her  principles  were  too  strong  to 
allow  her  to  use  a  man  as  her  plaything,  as  Madame 
de  Castries  had  no  scruple  in  doing.  Side  by  side  with 
her  tendency  to  mysticism,  she  possessed  much  prac- 
tical ability,  a  capacity  for  taking  the  initiative  in  the 
affairs  of  life,  as  well  as  considerable  literary  and 
critical  power.  Balzac  had  enormous  respect  for  her 
intellect,  and  references  to  the  splendid  "  analytical " 
forehead,  which  must  have  been  a  striking  feature  in 
her  face,  occur  as  often  in  his  letters  as  admiring  allu- 
sions to  her  pretty  dimpled  hands,  or  playful  jokes 
about  her  droll  French  pronunciation.  Her  miniature 
by  Daffinger,1  taken  in  the  prime  of  her  beauty,  gives 
an  idea  of  great  energy,  strength  of  will,  and  intelli- 
gence. She  is  dark,  with  a  decided  mouth,  and  rather 
thick  lips  as  red  as  a  child's.  Her  hair  is  black,  and 
is  plainly  braided  at  each  side  of  her  forehead;  her 
eyes  are  dark  and  profound,  though  with  the  vague 
look  of  short  sight;  and  her  arms  and  shoulders  are 

1  In  the  possession  of  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  139 

beautiful.  Altogether  she  is  a  handsome  woman, 
though  there  are  indications  of  that  tendency  to 
embonpoint  about  which  she  was  always  troubled, 
and  which  Balzac,  with  his  usual  love  of  prescribing 
for  his  friends,  advised  her  to  combat  by  daily 
exercise. 

However,  in  the  spring  of  1832,  the  time  which  we 
are  considering,  Madame  Hanska  was  not  even  a 
name  to  Balzac;  she  was  merely  " L'fitrangere,"  an 
unknown  woman  who  might  be  pretty  or  ugly,  young 
or  old;  but  who  at  any  rate  possessed  the  knack — or 
perhaps  the  author  of  "Seraphita"  or  of  "Louis 
Lambert "  would  have  said  the  power  by  transmuta- 
tion of  thought  and  sympathy — of  interesting  him 
in  the  highest  degree. 

In  June,  with  the  hope  that  absence  would  loosen 
the  bonds  of  aif  ection  which  united  him  and  Madame 
de  Berny,  and  with  an  arriere  pensee  about  another 
charming  personality  whom  he  might  meet  on  his 
travels,  Balzac  left  Paris  for  six  months,  and  began 
his  tour  by  paying  a  visit  to  M.  de  Margonne  at 
Sache.  There  he  wrote  "Louis  Lambert"  as  a  last 
farewell  to  Madame  de  Berny ;  and  in  memory  of  his 
ten  years'  intimacy  with  her,  on  the  title-page  were 
the  dates  1822  and  1832,  and  underneath  the  words 
"  Et  nunc  et  semper."  The  manuscript  was  sent  to 
her  for  criticism,  and  she  wrote  a  charming  letter1 
on  receipt  of  it  to  Angouleme,  where  Balzac  was 
staying  with  Madame  Carraud.  In  this  she  shows 
the  utmost  tenderness  and  gentle  playfulness;  but 

1  See  "  La  Jeunesse  de  Balzac,"  by  MM.  Hanotaux  and  Vicaire,  p.  74. 


140  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

while  modestly  deprecating  her  power  to  perform  the 
task  he  demands  from  her,  which  she  says  should  be 
entrusted  to  Madame  Carraud,  she  has  the  noble  dis- 
interestedness to  point  out  to  him  where  she  considers 
he  has  erred.  She  tells  him  that,  after  reading  the 
book  through  twice,  and  endeavouring  to  see  it  as  a 
whole,  she  thinks  he  has  undertaken  an  impossible 
task,  and  that,  trying  to  represent  absolute  truth  in 
its  action,  he  has  attempted  what  is  the  province  of 
God  alone.  Then,  with  the  utmost  tact  and  delicacy, 
she  touches  on  a  difficult  point,  and  says  that  when 
Goethe  and  Byron  attempt  to  paint  the  aspirations 
of  a  superior  being,  we  admire  their  breadth  of 
view,  and  wish  we  could  aid  them  with  our  minds 
to  reach  the  unattainable;  but  that  an  author  who 
announces  that  he  has  swept  to  the  utmost  range  of 
thought  shocks  us  by  his  vanity,  and  she  begs  Balzac 
to  eliminate  certain  phrases  in  his  book  which  sound 
as  though  he  had  this  belief.  She  finishes  thus: 
"  Manage,  my  dear  one,  that  every  one  shall  see  you 
from  everywhere  by  the  height  at  which  you  have 
placed  yourself,  but  do  not  claim  their  admiration,  for 
from  all  parts  strong  magnifying-glasses  will  be 
turned  on  you ;  and  what  becomes  of  the  most  delight- 
ful object  when  seen  through  a  microscope? "  Loving 
Balzac  so  tenderly,  growing  old  so  quickly,  with 
Madame  de  Castries  and  the  unknown  Russian  ready 
to  seize  the  empire  which  she  had  abdicated  willingly, 
though  at  bitter  cost,  what  a  temptation  it  must  have 
been  to  leave  these  words  unsaid,  and  now  that  she 
was  parting  from  Balzac  to  accord  him  the  unstinted 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  141 

admiration  for  which  he  yearned!  That  Madame  de 
Berny  thought  of  him  only,  of  herself  not  at  all, 
speaks  volumes  for  the  nobility  and  purity  of  her 
love,  and  we  again  feel  that  the  "  predilecta  "  never 
rose  to  her  heights,  and  that  to  his  first  love  belongs 
the  credit  of  "  creating  Balzac." 

During  Balzac's  absence  from  Paris,  Madame  de 
Balzac,  wrho  wras  installed  in  his  rooms  in  the  Rue 
Cassini,  appears  in  quite  a  new  light,  and  one  which 
leads  to  the  suspicion  that  the  much-abused  lady  was 
not  quite  as  black  as  she  had  been  painted.  The  hard 
and  heartless  mother  is  now  transmogrified  into  the 
patient  and  indefatigable  runner  of  errands;  and  we 
must  admire  the  business  capacity,  as  well  as  bodily 
strength,  which  Madame  de  Balzac  showed  in  carry- 
ing out  her  son's  various  behests.  In  one  letter  alone 
she  was  enjoined  to  carry  out  the  following  direc- 
tions 1 :  ( 1 )  She  was  to  copy  out  an  article  in  the 
Silhouette,  which  she  would  find  on  the  second  shelf 
for  quartos  near  the  door  in  Balzac's  room.  (2)  She 
was  to  send  him  her  copy  of  "  Contes  Drolatiques," 
and  also  "  Les  Chouans,"  which  she  would  receive 
corrected  from  Madame  de  Berny.  Furthermore, 
she  was  told  to  dress  in  her  best  and  go  to  the  library, 
taking  with  her  the  third  and  fourth  volumes  of 
"  Scenes  de  la  Vie  Privee,"  as  a  present  to  M.  de 
Manne,  the  librarian.  She  was  then  to  hunt  in  the 
"  Biographic  Universelle  "  under  B  or  P  for  Bernard 
Palissy,  read  the  article,  make  a  note  of  all  books 
mentioned  in  it  as  written  by  him  or  about  him,  and 

1  "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  153. 


142  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

ask  M.  de  Manne  for  them.  Next,  Laure  was  to  be 
visited,  as  the  "  Biographic,"  which  had  formerly  be- 
longed to  old  M.  de  Balzac,  was  at  her  house ;  and  the 
works  on  Palissy  mentioned  in  that  must  be  compared 
carefully  with  those  already  noted  down ;  and  if  fresh 
names  were  found,  another  visit  must  be  paid  to  the 
librarian.  If  he  did  not  possess  all  the  books  and 
they  were  not  very  dear,  they  were  to  be  bought.  A 
visit  to  Gosselin  was  to  be  the  next  excursion  for  poor 
Madame  de  Balzac,  who  apparently  walked  every- 
where to  save  hackney  carriage  fares;  and  as  minor 
matters  she  must  send  a  letter  he  enclosed  to  its  desti- 
nation, and  see  that  the  groom  exercised  the  horses 
every  day. 

Certainly,  if  Balzac  worked  like  a  galley  slave 
himself,  he  also  kept  his  relations  well  employed ;  but 
Madame  de  Balzac  apparently  did  everything  con- 
tentedly, in  the  hope,  as  a  good  business  woman,  that 
the  debts  would  at  last  be  paid  off;  and  though  there 
were  occasional  breezes,  the  relations  between  her  and 
her  son  were  cordial  at  this  time.  Possibly  she  was 
pleased  at  his  removal  from  the  influence  of  Madame 
de  Berny,  of  whom  she  was  always  jealous;  and  cer- 
tainly she  was  delighted  at  the  idea  of  his  marriage. 
The  intended  daughter-in-law,  whose  name  is  never 
mentioned,  was  evidently  a  widow  with  a  fortune,  so 
the  affair  was  highly  satisfactory.  The  lady  was 
expected  to  pay  a  visit  to  Mere,  near  Sache;  and 
Balzac  felt  obliged  to  go  there  three  times  a  week  to 
see  whether  she  had  arrived — a  duty  which  interfered 
sadly  with  his  work.  If  he  seemed  likely  to  prosper 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  143 

in  his  suit,  she  was  to  be  impressed  by  the  sight  of  his 
groom  and  horses.  However,  this  matrimonial  busi- 
ness transaction  was  not  successful,  as  we  hear  nothing 
more  of  it,  and  the  next  direction  his  mother  receives 
is  to  the  effect  that  she  had  better  sell  all  his  stable 
equipage. 

Whether  Madame  de  Balzac  resented  these  de- 
mands made  on  her,  or  whether  she  was  disgusted  at 
Balzac's  failure  to  secure  a  rich  wife,  and  thus  put  an 
end  to  the  family  troubles,  we  do  not  know ;  but  when 
he  returned  to  Paris  at  the  end  of  the  year,  to  his 
great  disappointment  she  refused  to  live  with  him, 
and  left  him  alone  when  he  sorely  needed  sympathy 
and  consolation. 

It  is  curiously  characteristic  of  Balzac,  that  at  this 
very  time,  when  in  secret  he  contemplates  marriage, 
he  writes  to  Madame  Carraud  that  he  is  going  to  Aix 
to  run  after  some  one  who  will  perhaps  laugh  at  him 
— one  of  those  aristocratic  women  she  would  no  doubt 
hold  in  abhorrence:  "An  angel  beauty  in  whom  one 
imagines  a  beautiful  soul,  a  true  duchess,  very  dis- 
dainful, very  loving,  delicate,  witty,  a  coquette,  a 
novelty  to  me!  One  of  those  phenomena  who  efface 
themselves  from  time  to  time,  and  who  says  she  loves 
me,  who  wishes  to  keep  me  with  her  in  a  palace  at 
Venice  (for  I  tell  you  everything) — who  wishes  that 
I  shall  in  future  write  only  for  her,  one  of  those 
women  one  must  worship  on  one's  knees  if  she  desires 
it,  and  whom  one  has  the  utmost  pleasure  in  conquer- 
ing— a  dream  woman!  Jealous  of  everything!  Ah, 
it  would  be  better  to  be  at  Angouleme  at  the  Poud- 


144  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

rerie,  very  sensible,  very  quiet,  listening  to  the  mills 
working,  making  oneself  sticky  with  truffles,  learning 
from  you  how  to  pocket  a  billiard-ball,  laughing  and 
talking,  than  to  lose  both  time  and  life! " l 

After  his  stay  at  Sache,  Balzac  went  on  to  the 
Poudrerie,  where  he  became  ill  from  overwork,  and 
wrote  to  his  sister  that  a  journey  was  quite  necessary 
for  his  health.  On  August  22nd  he  started  from 
Angouleme,  having  borrowed  150  francs  from  M. 
Carraud  to  take  him  as  far  as  Lyons.  He  had  already 
spent  the  100  francs  sent  him  by  his  mother,  and  he 
expected  to  find  300  francs  more  awaiting  him  at 
Lyons.  There  he  arrived  on  the  25th,  having  unfor- 
tunately fallen  in  mounting  the  imperial  of  the 
diligence,  and  grazed  his  shin  against  the  footboard, 
thus  making  a  small  hole  in  the  bone.  However,  we 
can  appreciate  the  excellent  reasons  which  led  him  to 
the  conclusion  that,  in  spite  of  the  inflammation  in  his 
leg,  it  would  be  wise  to  press  on  at  once  to  Aix.  When 
he  arrived  there,  on  August  26th,  he  was  evidently 
rewarded  by  a  very  cordial  greeting  from  the  Mar- 
quise; as,  the  day  after,  he  wrote  a  most  affectionate 
and  joyful  letter  to  his  mother,  thanking  her  in  the 
warmest  terms  for  all  she  had  done,  and  for  the 
pleasure  she  had  procured  him  by  enabling  him  to 
take  this  journey. 

He  was  now  established  in  a  simple  little  room, 
with  a  view  over  the  lovely  valley  of  the  Lac  du 
Bourget;  he  got  up  each  morning  at  half -past  five, 
and  worked  from  then  till  half -past  five  in  the  even- 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  161. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  145 

ing,  his  dejeuner  being  sent  in  from  the  club,  and 
Madame  de  Castries  providing  him  with  excellent 
coffee,  that  primary  necessity  of  his  existence.  At 
six  he  dined  with  her,  and  they  spent  the  evening  till 
eleven  o'clock  together.  It  was  an  exciting  drama 
that  went  on  during  those  long  tete-a-tetes.  On  one 
side  was  the  accomplished  coquette,  possibly  only  de- 
termined to  make  a  plaything  of  the  man  of  genius, 
to  charm  him  and  keep  him  at  her  feet;  or  perhaps 
with  a  lurking  hope  that  her  skilful  game  would  turn 
to  earnestness,  and  that  in  the  course  of  it  she  would 
manage  to  forget  that  charming  young  Metternich 
who  died  at  Florence  and  left  her  inconsolable.  On 
the  other  was  Balzac,  his  senses  bewildered  by  pas- 
sionate love,  but  his  acuteness  and  knowledge  of 
human  nature  not  allowing  him  to  be  altogether  de- 
ceived; so  that  he  writes  to  Madame  Carraud:  "  She 
is  the  most  delicate  type  of  woman — Madame  de 
Beauseant,  only  better;  but  are  not  all  these  pretty 
manners  exercised  at  the  expense  of  the  heart?" 
Nevertheless,  these  were  only  passing  doubts :  he  could 
not  really  believe  that  she  would  behave  as  she  was 
doing  if  there  were  no  love  for  him  in  her  heart,  and 
he  pursued  his  suit  with  the  intense  ardour  natural  to 
him.  Occasionally  she  became  alarmed,  and  tried  to 
rebuff  him  by  a  cold,  irritable  manner;  but  he  con- 
tinued to  treat  her  with  the  utmost  gentleness.  No 
doubt,  she  was  not  altogether  without  feeling:  an 
absolutely  cold  woman  could  not  have  exercised 
dominion  over  a  man  of  the  stamp  of  Balzac;  and 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  195. 


146  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

though  she  is  always  represented  as  playing  a  game, 
probably  there  were  agitations,  doubts,  questionings, 
and  possibly  real  trouble,  on  her  side,  as  well  as  on 
that  of  Balzac.  At  any  rate,  the  admirer  of  his  novels 
may  give  her  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  and  remember 
in  gratitude  that  she  undoubtedly  added  to  the  gamut 
of  the  great  psychologist's  emotions,  and  therefore 
increased  his  knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  and  the 
truth  and  vividness  of  his  books.  Balzac,  who  spoke 
of  the  "  douleurs  qui  font  trop  vivre,"  plunged  very 
deeply  into  the  learning  of  the  school  of  life  at  this 
time. 

At  last  came  a  final  rupture,  of  which  we  can  only 
conjecture  the  cause,  as  no  satisfactory  explanation 
is  forthcoming.  The  original  "  Confession "  in  the 
"  Medecin  de  Campagne,"  which  is  the  history  of 
Balzac's  relations  and  parting  with  Madame  de  Cas- 
tries, is  in  the  possession  of  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch 
de  Lovenjoul.  The  present  Confession  was  'substi- 
tuted in  its  place,  because  the  first  revealed  too  much 
of  Balzac's  private  life.  However,  even  in  the  original 
Confession,  we  learn  no  reason  for  Madame  de  Cas- 
tries' sudden  resolve  to  dismiss  her  adorer,  as  Balzac 
declares  with  indignant  despair  that  he  can  give  no 
explanation  of  it.  Apparently  she  parted  from  him 
one  evening  with  her  usual  warmth  of  affection,  and 
next  morning  everything  was  changed,  and  she  treated 
him  with  the  utmost  coldness.  ' 

Madame  de  Castries,  with  her  brother-in-law,  the 
Due  de  Fitz- James  and  his  family,  had  settled  to  leave 
Aix  on  October  10th,  and  to  travel  in  Italy,  visiting 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  147 

Rome  and  Naples;  and  they  had  been  anxious  that 
Balzac  should  be  one  of  the  party.  At  first  Balzac 
only  spoke  of  this  vaguely,  because  of  the  question 
of  money;  but  as  pecuniary  matters  were  never 
allowed  to  interfere  with  anything  he  really  wanted 
to  do,  his  mother  cannot  have  been  surprised  to  receive 
a  letter  written  on  September  23rd,  telling  her  that 
the  matter  was  settled,  and  that  he  was  going  to 
Italy.1  As  she  would  naturally  ask  how  this  was  to  be 
managed,  he  explains  that  he  will  put  off  paying  a 
debt  of  500  francs,  and  that,  being  only  responsible 
for  a  fourth  share  in  the  hire  of  Madame  de  Castries' 
carriage,  this  money  will  suffice  for  his  expenses  as 
far  as  Rome.  There  he  will  require  500  francs,  and 
the  same  amount  again  at  Naples ;  but  this  money  will 
be  gained  by  the  "Medecin  de  Campagne,"  and  he 
will  only  ask  Madame  de  Balzac  for  500  francs— 
without  which  he  will  perhaps,  after  all,  manage — to 
bring  him  back  from  Naples  in  March.  On  September 
30th  he  writes  to  M.  Mame,  the  publisher,  to  tell  him 
about  the  nearly-finished  "Medecin  de  Campagne," 
and  still  talks  of  his  projected  journey;  but  on 
October  9th,  as  a  result  of  Madame  de  Castries's  be- 
haviour towards  him,  he  has  left  her  at  Aix,  and  is 
himself  at  Annecy,  and  on  October  16th  he  has 
travelled  on  to  Geneva.  His  only  explanation  for  his 
sudden  change  of  plan  is  a  vague  remark  to  his  mother 
about  the  1,000  francs  required  for  the  journey,2  and 
about  the  difficulty  of  publishing  books  while  he  is 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  202. 
2  Ibid.,   p.    220. 


148  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

away  from  France;  while  on  the  real  reason  of  his 
change  of  plan  he  is  absolutely  silent.  Before  the 
end  of  1832  he  is  back  in  Paris,  and  in  spite  of  his 
success  and  celebrity  is  probably  passing  through  the 
bitterest  months  of  his  life. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

1832—1835 
* 

Letters  between  Balzac  and  Madame  Hanska — Meeting  at  Neuf- 

chatel — '  Etudes    de   Moeurs   au    XlXieme    Siecle  " — "  Le 

Medecin  de  Campagne  " — "Eugenie  G^ardet" — Meets 

Madame  Hanska  at  Vienna — "  La  Duchesse  de  Lan- 

geais  " — "  La  Recherche  de  1'Absolu  " — "  Le 

Pere  Goriot ' ' — Republishes  romantic  novels 

MEANWHILE,  during  the  tragic  drama  of  the  downfall 
of  poor  Balzac's  high  hopes,  Madame  Hanska  con- 
tinued to  write  steadily;  but  she  was  becoming  tired 
of  receiving  no  answer  to  her  letters,  and  of  not  even 
knowing  whether  or  no  they  had  reached  their  desti- 
nation. Therefore  she  wrote  on  November  7th,  1832, 
to  ask  Balzac  for  a  little  message  in  the  Quotidienne, 
which  she  took  in  regularly,  to  say  that  he  had  received 
her  letters;  and  Balzac,  in  reply,  inserted  the  follow- 
ing notice  in  the  Quotidienne  of  December  9th,  1832: 
"M.  de  B.  has  received  the  message  sent  him;  he  can 
only  to-day  give  information  of  this  through  a  news- 
paper, and  regrets  that  he  does  not  know  where  to 
address  his  answer.  To  L'E.— H.  de  B." J 

After  this,  it  is  amusing  to  see  that  Balzac  was 

1A  copy  of  the  Quotidienne  with  this  advertisement  is  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul,  and  I  have  seen  it 

149 


150  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

most  particular  in  impressing  on  his  publishers  the 
necessity  of  advertising  his  forthcoming  works  in  the 
Quotidienne,  one  of  the  few  French  papers  allowed 
admission  into  Russia.  On  the  other  hand,  the  receipt 
of  the  Quotidienne  with  this  announcement  made 
Madame  Hanska  so  bold,  that  in  a  letter  dated  Janu- 
ary 9th,  1833,  she  gave  Balzac  the  welcome  infor- 
mation that  she  and  M.  de  Hanski  were  leaving 
Ukraine  for  a  time,  and  coming  nearer  France;  and 
that  she  would  indicate  to  him  some  way  of  corre- 
sponding with  her  secretly.  As  this  is  the  last  of  her 
letters  that  can  be  found,  we  do  not  know  what 
method  she  pointed  out  to  Balzac;  but  his  first  letter 
to  her  is  dated  January,  1833,  and  after  their  meeting 
at  Neuf chatel  in  September,  he  wrote  a  short  account 
of  his  day  every  evening  to  his  beloved  one,  and  once 
in  eight  days  he  dispatched  this  journal  to  its  destina- 
tion. 

As  he  kept  to  this  plan  with  only  occasional 
interruptions  whenever  he  was  absent  from  her,  till 
his  marriage  four  months  before  his  death,  these 
letters,  some  of  which  are  published  in  a  volume 
called  "  Lettres  a  1'Etrangere,"  form  a  most  valuable 
record  of  his  life.  In  one  of  the  first,  it  is  interesting 
to  see  that  he  is  obliged  to  soothe  her  uneasiness  at  the 
strange  variety  of  his  handwritings,  as  Madame  Car- 
raud  had  answered  one  of  her  letters  in  his  name ;  and 
to  allay  her  suspicions,  he  makes  the  rather  unlikely 
explanation,  that  he  has  as  many  writings  as  there  are 
days  in  the  year.  In  the  future,  however,  her  letters 
are  sacred,  no  eye  but  his  own  being  permitted  to 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  151 

gaze  on  them;  and  with  his  usual  reticence  where  his 
feelings  are  seriously  involved,  he  ceases  to  mention  to 
his  friends  his  correspondent  in  far  Ukraine. 

A  little  later  he  comments  with  joy  on  the  fact 
that  Madame  Hanska  has  sent  him  a  copy  of  the 
"  Imitation  of  Christ,"  *  which  represents  our  Lord 
on  the  cross,  just  as  he  is  writing  "Le  Medecin  de 
Campagne,"  which  portrays  the  bearing  of  the  cross 
by  resignation,  and  love,  faith  in  the  future,  and  the 
spreading  around  of  the  perfume  of  good  deeds. 
To  Balzac,  believer  in  the  power  of  the  transmis- 
sion of  thought,  this  coincidence  was  of  good  au- 
gury. 

All  this  time  he  has  not  forgotten  Madame  de 
Berny,  or  the  faithless  Madame  de  Castries;  and  is 
profoundly  miserable.  On  January  1st,  1833,  he 
writes  to  his  faithful  friend,  Madame  Carraud,  to 
pour  out  his  troubles,  and  says:  "In  vain  I  try  to 
transfer  my  life  to  my  brain ;  nature  has  given  me  too 
much  heart,  and  in  spite  of  everything,  more  than 
enough  for  ten  men  is  left.  Therefore  I  suffer.  All 
the  more  because  chance  made  me  know  happiness 
in  all  its  moral  extent,  while  depriving  me  of  sensual 
beauty.  She  [Madame  de  Berny]  gave  me  a  true 
love  which  must  finish.  This  is  horrible !  I  go  through 
troubles  and  tempests  which  no  one  knows  of.  I  have 
no  distractions.  Nothing  refreshes  this  heat,  which 
spreads  and  will  perhaps  devour  me."  He  then  passes 
on  to  Madame  de  Castries,  and  continues:  "An 
unheard-of  coldness  has  succeeded  gradually  to  what 

1 "  Lettres  a  1'fitrangfcre." 


152  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

I  thought  was  passion,  in  a  woman  who  came  to  me 
rather  nobly."  1  In  a  letter  to  Madame  Hanska,  speak- 
ing of  Madame  de  Castries,  though  he  does  not  name 
her,  he  says :  "  She  causes  me  suffering,  but  I  do  not 
judge  her.  Only  I  think  that  if  you  loved  some  one, 
if  you  had  drawn  him  every  day  towards  you  into 
heaven,  and  you  were  free,  you  would  not  leave  him 
alone  in  the  depths  of  an  abyss  of  cold,  after  having 
warmed  him  with  the  fire  of  your  soul." 2 

Gradually,  however,  the  new  love  gained  ground; 
though  at  first  Balzac  showed  that  nervous  dread  of 
repetition  of  pain  which  was,  in  a  man  of  his  buoy- 
ancy and  self-confidence,  the  last  expression  of 
depression  and  disillusionment.  "  I  trembled  in  writ- 
ing to  you.  I  said  to  myself:  'Will  this  be  only  a 
new  bitterness?  Will  the  skies  open  to  me  again,  for 
me  only  to  be  driven  from  them?'"2  Nevertheless, 
passages  such  as  the  following,  even  taking  into 
account  the  sentimental  tone  Balzac  always  adopted 
to  his  female  correspondents,  show  that  he  was  not 
destined  to  remain  permanently  inconsolable.  "  I 
love  you,  unknown,  and  this  strange  thing  is  the 
natural  effect  of  an  empty  and  unhappy  life,  only 
filled  with  ideas,  and  the  misfortunes  of  which  I  have 
diminished  by  chimerical  pleasures." 2 

In  these  words  he  himself  gives  the  explanation  of 
his  overmastering  love  for  Madame  Hanska,  a  love 
which  seems  to  have  puzzled  his  contemporaries  and 

1  Letters   sent  by   the   Vicomte   de   Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul   to  the 
Revue  Bleue  of  November  21st,  1903. 
2 "  Lettres  a  I'fitrangere." 


-    -.^r      Ji  OJUV^ 

.  5«^Wj 


BALZAC,   FROM   DAVID'S  SKETCH 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  153 

some  of  his  subsequent  biographers.  The  man  with 
the  passionate  nature,  who  cried  in  his  youth  for  the 
satisfaction  of  his  two  immense  desires — to  be  cele- 
brated and  to  be  loved — soon  found  the  emptiness  of 
the  life  of  fame  alone;  and  Madame  Hanska,  dowered 
with  all  that  he  longed  for,  came  into  his  life  at  the 
psychological  moment  when  he  had  broken  with  the 
old  love,  born  into  the  world  too  soon,  and  had  suf- 
fered bitterly  at  the  cruel  hands  of  the  new.  He 
turned  to  her  with  a  rapture  of  new  hope  in  the 
glories  that  might  rise  for  him;  and  through  trouble, 
disappointment,  and  delay,  he  never  once  wavered  in 
his  allegiance. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1833,  the  Hanski  family, 
after  no  doubt  many  preparations,  and  surrounded  by 
a  great  paraphernalia — for  travelling  in  those  days 
was  a  serious  matter — started  on  the  journey  about 
which  Madame  Hanska  had  already  told  Balzac. 
Neufchatel  was  their  destination;  and  through  Mile. 
Henriette  Borel,  Anna's  governess,  who  was  a  native 
of  the  place,  and  Madame  Hanska's  confidante,  the 
Villa  Andrie,  in  the  Faubourg,  just  opposite  the 
Hotel  du  Faubourg,  was  secured  for  them.  Mile. 
Borel  was  a  most  useful  person,  as  she  always  went  to 
the  post  to  claim  Balzac's  letter,  and  through  Madame 
Hanska  he  sends  her  many  directions,  and  specially 
enjoins  great  caution.  We  are  told 1  that  she  was  so 
much  struck  by  the  solemnities  at  M.  de  Hanski's 
funeral — the  lights,  the  songs,  and  the  national  cos- 
tumes— that  she  decided  to  abjure  the  Protestant 

1H  Balzac  a  Neufchatel,"  by  M.  Bachelin. 


154  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

faith,  and  that  in  1843  she  took  the  veil.  We  may 
wonder,  however,  whether  tardy  remorse  for  her  deceit 
towards  the  dead  man,  who  had  treated  her  with  kind- 
ness, had  not  its  influence  in  causing  this  sudden 
religious  enthusiasm,  and  whether  the  Sister  in  the 
Convent  of  the  Visitation  in  Paris  gave  herself  extra 
penance  for  her  sins  of  connivance. 

From  Neufchatel,  Madame  Hanska  sent  Balzac 
her  exact  address;  and  as  he  had  really  settled  to  go 
to  Besan9on  in  his  search  for  inexpensive  paper  to 
enable  him  to  carry  out  his  grand  scheme  for  an  uni- 
versal cheap  library,  it  was  settled  that,  travelling 
ostensibly  for  this  purpose,  he  should  go  for  a  few  days 
to  Neufchatel,  and  meet  Madame  Hanska.  He  there- 
fore wrote  to  Charles  de  Bernard,  at  Besan9on,  to  ask 
him  to  take  a  place  for  him  in  the  diligence  to  Neuf- 
chatel, on  September  25th,  1835;  and  it  is  easy  to 
imagine  his  qualms  of  anxiety,  and  yet  joyful  excite- 
ment when  he  left  Paris  on  the  22nd,  and  started  on 
his  fateful  journey.  At  Neufchatel  he  went  to  the 
Hotel  du  Faucon,1  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  but 
found  a  note  begging  him  to  be  on  the  Promenade  du 
Faubourg  next  day  from  one  to  four ;  and  he  at  once 
removed  to  the  Hotel  du  Faubourg,  so  that  he  might 
be  near  the  Villa  Andrie.  Madame  Hanska  no 
doubt  shared  to  a  certain  extent  his  tremors  of  antici- 
pation; but  as  a  beauty  and  great  lady  she  would 
naturally  feel  more  confident  than  Balzac — especially 
when  she  had  donned  with  care  her  most  elegant  and 

1 "  Un  Roman  d' Amour,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul, 
p.  75. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  155 

becoming  toilette,  and  felt  armed  at  every  point  for 
the  encounter. 

The  Promenade  du  Faubourg  at  Neufchatel  over- 
looks the  lake,  and  is  terminated  by  a  promontory 
known  as  the  Cret,  a  splendid  point  of  vantage, 
whence  there  is  a  view  of  the  Villa  Andrie  and  over 
the  gardens  of  the  Hotel  du  Faubourg.  Here,  on 
the  afternoon  of  September  26th,  1833,  among  other 
strollers,  were  two  who  might  have  seemed  to  an 
observant  eye  to  be  waiting  for  somebody;  one  was 
a  stout,  inelegant  little  man,  with  something  bizarre 
about  his  costume,  and  the  other  a  dark,  handsome 
lady,  dressed  in  the  height  of  fashion,  and  perhaps 
known  to  some  of  the  loungers  as  the  rich  Russian 
Countess. 

The  manner  of  their  meeting  is  uncertain;  but 
whether  Madame  Hanska,  with  one  of  Balzac's 
novels  in  her  hand,  recognised  him  at  once  and  rushed 
towards  him  joyously,  or  whether,  as  another  story 
goes,  she  was  at  first  disenchanted  by  his  unromantic 
appearance  and  drew  back,  matters  little.1  In  either 
case,  according  to  Balzac's  letter  to  his  sister  written 
on  his  return  to  Paris,  they  exchanged  their  first  kiss 
under  the  shade  of  a  great  oak  in  the  Val  de  Travers, 
and  swore  to  wait  for  each  other ;  and  he  speaks  rap- 
turously of  Madame  Hanska's  beautiful  black  hair, 
of  her  fine  dark  skin,  and  her  pretty  little  hands.  He 
mentions,  too,  her  colossal  riches,  though  these  do 
not  of  course  count  beside  her  personal  charms;  but 

1HUn  Roman  d' Amour,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Loven- 
joul,  p.  75. 


156  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

the  remark  is  characteristic,  and  Balzac's  pride  and 
exultation  are  very  apparent.1  At  last  he  has  found 
his  "  grande  dame,"  endowed  with  youth,  beauty,  and 
riches,  one  who  would  not  be  ashamed  to  live  with 
him  in  a  garret,  and  yet  would,  by  her  birth,  be  able 
to  hold  her  own  in  the  most  exclusive  society  in  the 
world. 

He  is  specially  pleased,  too,  that  he  has  succeeded 
in  charming  Madame  Hanska's  husband,  to  whom 
he  was  apparently  introduced  at  once,  though  we  do 
not  know  by  what  means.  Certainly  M.  de  Hanski 
appears  to  have  felt  a  warm  liking  for  the  great 
writer,  who  charmed  him  and  made  him  laugh  by  his 
amusing  talk,  kept  his  blue  devils  at  bay,  sent  him 
first  copies  of  his  books,  and  sympathised  with  his 
views  on  political  matters.  M.  de  Hanski  was  also 
much  flattered  by  Balzac's  friendship  for  his  wife, 
and  would  finish  a  polite  and  stilted  epistle  by  saying 
that  he  need  trouble  Balzac  no  more,  as  he  knows  his 
wife  is  at  the  same  time  writing  him  one  of  her  long 
chattering  letters.  Even  when,  by  sad  mischance,  two 
of  Balzac's  love-letters  fell  into  M.  de  Hanski's  hands, 
and  the  great  writer  was  forced  to  stoop  to  the  pre- 
tence that  they  were  written  in  jest,  the  husband 
seems  to  have  accepted  the  explanation,  and  not  to 
have  troubled  further  about  the  matter.  Later  on, 
he  sent  Balzac  a  magnificent  inkstand  as  a  present, 
which,  the  recipient  rather  ungratefully  remarked, 

'I    have    seen    in   M.    de    Spoelberch    de    Lovenjoul's    collection,    the 
autograph    of    the    whole    of    this    letter    as    quoted    in    the    "Roman 

d' Amour." 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  157 

required  palatial  surroundings,  and  was  too  grand 
for  his  use. 

On  October  1st  the  happy  time  at  Neufchatel 
came  to  an  end,  as  the  Hanskis  were  leaving  that 
day,  and  Balzac's  work  awaited  him  in  Paris.  He 
got  up  at  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  his  depar- 
ture, and  went  on  to  the  promontory,  whence  he  could 
gaze  at  the  Villa  Andrie,  in  the  vain  hope  of  a  last 
meeting  with  Madame  Hanska ;  but  to  his  disappoint- 
ment the  Villa  was  absolutely  quiet,  no  one  was  stir- 
ring. He  had  a  most  uncomfortable  journey  back, 
for  everything  was  so  crowded  that  fifteen  or  sixteen 
intending  passengers  were  refused  at  each  town;  and 
as  Charles  de  Bernard  had  not  been  able  to  secure  a 
place  for  him  in  the  mail  coach,  he  was  obliged 
to  travel  in  the  imperial  of  the  diligence  with 
five  Swiss,  who  treated  him  as  though  he  were  an 
animal  going  to  the  market,  and  he  arrived  in  Paris 
bruised  all  over. 

In  Balzac's  letters  after  his  return  to  Paris  there 
is  much  mention  of  his  enjoyment  of  the  Swiss 
scenery,  which  is  after  all  only  Madame  Hanska  under 
another  name ;  but  he  is  absolutely  discreet,  and  never 
speaks  of  the  lady  herself.  He  is  redoubling  his 
work,  on  the  chance  of  managing  to  pay  her  another 
visit.  "For  a  month  longer,  prodigies  of  work,  to 
enable  me  to  see  you.  You  are  in  all  my  thoughts, 
in  all  the  lines  that  I  shall  trace,  in  all  the  moments 
of  my  life,  in  all  my  being,  in  my  hair  which  grows 
for  you."1 

1 "  Lettres  &  1'fitrangfcre." 


158  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

Fortunately  the  long  years  of  waiting,  the  anxie- 
ties, the  hope  constantly  deferred,  the  pangs  of  un- 
equally matched  affection,  and  at  last  the  short  and 
imperfect  fruition,  were  hidden  from  him.  Hence- 
forward everything  in  his  life  refers  to  Madame 
Hanska,  and  he  waits  patiently  for  his  hoped-for 
union  with  her.  His  deference  to  his  absent  friend, 
his  fear  of  her  disapproval,  his  admiration  for  her 
perfections,  are  half  pathetic  and  half  comical. 

Though  she  does  not  appear  to  have  been  strait- 
laced  in  her  reading,  he  is  terribly  afraid  of  falling 
in  her  estimation  by  what  he  writes,  and  he  explains 
anxiously  that  such  books  as  "Le  Medecin  de  Cam- 
pagne  "  or  "  Seraphita  "  show  him  in  his  true  light, 
and  that  the  "Physiologic  du  Mariage"  is  really 
written  in  defence  of  women.  The  "  Contes  Dro- 
latiques"  he  is  also  nervous  about,  and  he  is  much 
agitated  when  he  hears  that  she  has  read  some  of 
them  without  his  permission. 

He  is  not  always  quite  candid,  and  the  reader  of 
"Lettres  a  1'iEtrangere"  may  safely  surmise  that 
there  is  a  little  picturesque  exaggeration  in  his  ac- 
count of  the  solitary  life  he  leads;  and  that  Madame 
Hanska  had  occasionally  good  reason  for  her  re- 
proaches at  the  reports  she  heard,  though  Balzac 
always  replies  to  these  complaints  with  a  most  touch- 
ing display  of  injured  innocence.  Nevertheless,  the 
"  Lettres  a  1'Etrangere  "  are  the  record  of  a  faithful 
and  ever-growing  love,  and  there  is  much  in  them 
which  must  increase  the  reader's  admiration  for 
Balzac. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  159 

The  year  1833  was  a  prosperous  one  with  him,  as 
in  October  he  sold  to  the  publisher,  Madame  Charles 
Bechet,  for  27,000  francs,  an  edition  of  "  Etudes  de 
Mreurs  au  XlXieme  Siecle"  in  twelve  octavo  vol- 
umes, consisting  of  the  third  edition  of  "  Scenes  de  la 
Vie  Privee,"  the  first  of  "  Scenes  de  la  Vie  de  Prov- 
ince," and  the  first  part  of  the  "  Scenes  de  la  Vie 
Parisienne."  The  last  volume  of  this  edition  did  not 
appear  till  1837,  and  before  that  time  Balzac  had 
taken  further  strides  toward  his  grand  conception  of 
the  Comedie  Humaine.  In  October,  1834,1  he  writes 
to  Madame  Hanska  that  the  "Etudes  de  Moeurs," 
in  which  is  traced  thread  by  thread  the  history  of  the 
human  heart,  is  only  to  be  the  base  of  the  structure; 
and  that  next,  in  the  "Etudes  Philosophiques,"  he 
will  go  back  from  effect  to  cause,  from  the  feelings, 
their  life  and  way  of  working,  to  the  conditions 
behind  them  on  which  life,  society,  and  man  have 
their  being ;  and  that  having  described  society,  he  will 
in  the  "  Etudes  Philosophiques "  judge  it.  In  the 
"Etudes  de  Mreurs"  types  will  be  formed  from  in- 
dividuals, in  the  "  Etudes  Philosophiques  "  individuals 
from  types.  Then,  after  effects  and  causes,  will 
come  principles,  in  the  "  Etudes  Analytiques."  "  Les 
moeurs  sont  le  spectacle,  les  causes  sont  les  coulisses 
et  les  machines,  et  les  principes  c'est  1'auteur."  When 
this  great  palace  is  at  last  completed,  he  will  write 
the  science  of  it  in  "L'Essai  sur  les  Forces  Hu- 
maines  " ;  and  on  the  base  he,  a  child  and  a  laugher, 
will  trace  the  immense  arabesque  of  the  "  Contes 

1 "  Lettres  £  l'£trang£re." 


160  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

Drolatiques,"  those  Rabelaisian  stories  in  old  French 
tracing  the  progress  of  the  language,  which  he  often 
declared  would  be  his  principal  claim  to  fame.  In 
1842  the  name  "La  Comedie  Humaine"  was  after 
much  consideration  given  to  the  whole  structure,  and 
in  the  preface  he  explains  this  title  by  saying :  "  The 
vastness  of  a  plan  which  includes  Society's  history 
and  criticism,  the  analysis  of  its  evils,  the  discussion 
of  its  principles,  justifies  me,  I  think,  in  giving  to 
my  work  the  name  under  which  it  is  appearing  to-day 
— 'The  Human  Comedy.'  Pretentious,  is  it?  Is  it 
not  rather  true?  That  is  a  question  for  the  public  to 
decide  when  the  work  is  finished." 

Unfortunately,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  in  twelve 
years,  from  1830  to  1842,  Balzac  wrote  seventy-nine 
novels — an  enormous  number,  especially  remember- 
ing the  fact  that  during  the  same  time  he  published 
tales  and  numberless  articles — the  great  work  was 
never  finished ;  and  the  last  philosophical  study,  which 
was  to  be  entitled  "  The  Marquis  of  Carabbas,"  and 
was  to  treat  of  the  life  of  nations,  was  not  even  begun. 
However,  in  1833,  when  he  really  started  the  germ 
of  his  life-work,  he,  like  his  father,  had  the  idea  that 
he  would  live  to  an  enormous  age ;  and  he  was  in  high 
spirits  about  the  pecuniary  side  of  his  transaction 
with  Madame  Bechet. 

Except  for  what  he  owes  his  mother,  in  seven 
months  he  will  be  free  of  debt,  he  cries  rapturously; 
but  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  mention  that  this  happy 
time  of  deliverance  never  did  arrive.  Indeed,  we  are 
scarcely  surprised  when  he  writes,  on  November  20th, 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  161 

to  say  that  his  affairs  are  in  the  most  deplorable 
condition;  that  he  has  just  sent  four  thousand  francs, 
his  last  resource,  to  Mame,  the  publisher,  and  is  as 
poor  as  Job;  with  one  lawsuit  going  on,  and  another 
beginning,  for  which  he  requires  twelve  hundred 
francs.  His  chronic  state  of  disagreement  with  fimile 
de  Girardin,  editor  of  La  Presse,  had  at  this  time,  in 
spite  of  Madame  de  Girardin's  attempts  at  media- 
tion, become  acute ;  so  that  they  nearly  fought  a  duel. 
The  year  before,  as  we  have  already  seen,  he  had 
quarrelled  with  his  former  friend,  Amedee  Pichot, 
and  had  deserted  the  Revue  de  Paris,  so  his  business 
relations  were,  as  usual,  not  very  happy. 

However,  he  was  at  first  very  much  pleased  with 
Madame  Bechet,  who,  with  unexpected  liberality, 
herself  paid  4,000  francs  for  corrections ;  and  in  July, 
1834,  he  got  rid  of  the  publisher  Gosselin,  whom  he 
politely  designates  as  a  "  nightmare  of  silliness,"  and 
a  "rost-beaf  ambulant,"  and  started  business  with 
Werdet,  not  yet  the  "vulture  who  fed  on  Prome- 
theus," but  an  excellent  young  man,  somewhat  resem- 
bling "1'illustre  Gaudissart,"  full  of  devotion  and 
energy. 

The  year  1833  was  rich  in  masterpieces.  In  Sep- 
tember appeared  "  Le  Medecin  de  Campagne,"  with 
its  motto,  "  For  wounded  souls,  shade  and  silence  "  ; 
and  though,  like  "  Louis  Lambert,"  it  was  not  at  first 
a  success,  later  on  its  true  value  was  realised;  and  the 
hero,  the  good  Dr.  Benassls,  is  one  of  Balzac's  purest 
and  most  noble  creations.  It  was  followed  in  December 
by  "  Eugenie  Grandet,"  a  masterpiece  of  Dutch  genre, 


162  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

immortalised  by  the  vivid  vitality  of  old  Grandet, 
that  type  of  modern  miser  who,  in  contradistinction 
to  Moliere's  Harpagon,  enjoyed  universal  respect 
and  admiration,  his  fortune  being  to  some  people 
in  his  province  "the  object  of  patriotic  pride."  The 
book  raised  such  a  storm  of  enthusiasm  that  Balzac 
became  jealous  for  the  fame  of  his  other  works,  and 
would  cry  indignantly:  "Those  who  call  me  the 
father  of  Eugenie  Grandet  wish  to  belittle  me.  It 
is  a  masterpiece,  I  know;  but  it  is  a  little  master- 
piece; they  are  very  careful  not  to  mention  the  great 
ones." *  This,  which  is  the  best  known  and  most 
generally  admired  of  Balzac's  novels,  is  dedicated  by 
a  strange  irony  of  fate  to  Maria,  whose  identity  has 
never  been  discovered;  the  only  fact  really  known 
about  her  being  her  pathetic  request  to  Balzac,  that 
he  would  love  her  just  for  a  year,  and  she  would  love 
him  for  all  eternity.  She  did  not,  however,  have  un- 
disputed possession  of  even  the  short  time  she  longed 
for,  as  Madame  Hanska's  all-conquering  influence 
was  in  the  ascendant;  but,  as  Balzac  was  always 
discreet,  perhaps  poor  Maria  was  not  aware  of  this. 
In  the  midst  of  the  acclamations  and  congratula- 
tions on  the  appearance  of  "  Eugenie  Grandet,"  Bal- 
zac again  left  Paris,  and  went  to  Geneva,  where  he 
arrived  on  December  25th,  1833.  He  left  for  Paris 
on  February  8th,  having  spent  six  weeks  with  the 
Hanski  family.  During  this  time  a  definite  promise 
was  made  by  Madame  Hanska  that  she  would  marry 

1 "  Balzac,    sa    Vie    et   ses    CEuvres    d'apres    sa    Correspondance,"    by 
Madame  L.  Surville. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  163 

him  if  she  became  a  widow.  "  Adoremus  in  Eeternum  " 
was  their  motto;  he  was  her  humble  "moujik,"  and 
she  was  his  "predilecta,  his  love,  his  life,  his  only 
thought."  1 

Curiously  enough,  his  occupation  in  Geneva,  in 
the  rapture  of  his  newly- found  happiness,  was  to  write 
the  "Duchesse  de  Langeais,"  by  which  he  intended 
to  revenge  himself  on  Madame  de  Castries,  though 
he  could  not  help,  in  his  book,  making  her  turn  to 
him  at  last,  when  it  was  too  late.  The  wound  was 
still  smarting.  He  detests  and  despises  her,  he  says; 
and  the  only  words  of  spitefulness  recorded  in  his 
generous,  large-minded  life,  are  when  he  mentions, 
with  pretended  pity,  that  owing  to  ill-health  she  has 
completely  lost  her  beauty.  In  spite  of  this  outburst, 
however,  we  find  that  he  came  forward  later  on  and 
helped  her  with  much  energy  when  she  was  in  difficul- 
ties. He  never  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
whether  she  were  punished  or  no ;  as,  when  he  showed 
her  the  book  before  it  was  published,  with  the  osten- 
sible reason  of  wishing  through  her  to  disarm  the 
Faubourg  St.  Germain,  which  is  severely  criticised 
in  its  pages,  she  professed  much  admiration  for  it. 

Meanwhile,  Madame  de  Berny  was  beginning  the 
slow  process  of  dying;  and  Balzac  speaks  constantly 
with  trouble  of  her  failing  health,  and  of  the  heart 
disease  from  which  she  suffered,  and  which,  with  her 
usual  unselfishness,  she  tried  to  conceal  from  him. 
She  was  too  ill  now  to  correct  his  proofs,  and  her 
family  circumstances  were,  as  we  have  already  seen, 

1 "  Lettres  &  1'fitrangfere." 


164  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

very  miserable;  so  that  her  life  was  closing  sadly.  In 
January,  1835,  Balzac  spent  eight  days  with  her  at 
La  Boulonniere,  near  Nemours,  working  hard  all  the 
time ;  and  was  horrified  to  find  her  so  ill  that  even  the 
pleasure  of  reading  his  books  brought  on  severe 
heart  attacks. 

His  life  at  this  time  was  enormously  busy ;  the  pas- 
sion for  work  had  him  in  its  grip,  and  even  his  robust 
constitution  suffered  from  the  enormous  strain  to 
which  he  subjected  it  by  his  constant  abuse  of  coffee, 
which  caused  intense  nervous  irritation;  and  by  the 
short  hours  of  sleep  he  allowed  himself.  He  never 
rested  for  a  moment,  he  was  never  indifferent  for  a 
moment,  his  faculties  were  constantly  on  the  stretch, 
and  Dr.  Nacquart  remonstrated  in  vain.  In  August, 
1834,  he  was  attacked  by  slight  congestion  of  the 
brain,  and  imperatively  ordered  two  months'  rest; 
which,  of  course,  he  did  not  take ;  and  now,  from  time 
to  time,  in  his  letters  occur  entries  of  sinister  omen, 
about  symptoms  of  illness,  and  doctor's  neglected 
advice.  In  October  "La  Recherche  de  1'Absolu" 
appeared,  and  instead  of  greeting  it  with  the  enthu- 
siasm he  usually  accorded  to  his  books,  he  remarked 
to  Madame  Hanska  that  he  hoped  it  was  good,  but 
that  he  was  too  tired  to  judge.  However,  by  Decem- 
ber of  the  same  year,  when  "Le  Pere  Goriot"  was 
published,  he  had  to  a  certain  extent  recovered  his 
elasticity,  and  said  that  it  was  a  beautiful  work, 
though  terribly  sad,  and  showed  the  moral  corruption 
of  Paris  like  a  disgusting  wound.  A  few  days  later 
he  became  more  enthusiastic,  and  wrote:  "You  will 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  165 


be  ver^proud-o£~-lI^e_iei£_GQriQt.'  My  friends 
insist  that  nothing  is  comparable  to  it,  and  that  it  is 
above  all  my  other  compositions."  l  Certainly  the 
vivid  portrait  of  old  Goriot,  that  ignoble  King  Lear, 
who  in  his  extraordinary  passion  of  paternal  love 
rouses  our  sympathy,  in  spite  of  his  many  absurdities 
and  shortcomings,  is  a  striking  instance  of  Balzac's 
power  in  the  creation  of  type. 

He  was  straining  every  nerve  to  be  able  to  meet 
Madame  Hanska  in  Vienna;  but  with  all  his  efforts 
his  journey  was  put  off  month  after  month,  and  it 
was  not  till  May  9th,  1835,  that  he  was  at  last  able 
to  start.  He  arrived  at  Vienna  on  the  16th,  having 
hired  a  post  carriage  for  the  journey,  a  little  extrava- 
gance which  cost  him  15,000  francs.  His  stay  there 
was  not  a  rest,  as,  to  Madame  Hanska's  annoyance, 
he  worked  twelve  hours  a  day  at  "Le  Lys  dans  la 
Vallee,"  and  explained  to  her  that  he  was  doing  a 
good  deal  in  thus  sacrificing  three  hours  a  day  for 
her  sake  —  fifteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty-  four  being 
his  usual  time  for  labour.  He  visited  Munich  on  his 
way  back,  and  arrived  in  Paris  on  June  llth,  to  find 
a  crowd  of  creditors  awaiting  his  arrival,  and  his 
pecuniary  affairs  in  terrible  confusion.  Owing,  he 
considered,  to  the  machinations  of  his  enemies,  arti- 
cles had  appeared  in  different  papers  announcing 
that  he  had  been  imprisoned  for  debt  —  a  report  which 
naturally  ruined  his  credit,  and  caused  a  general 
gathering  of  those  to  whom  he  owed  money.  It  was 
not  a  pleasant  home-coming  ;  as  Werdet  and  Madame 

1  "  Lettres  a  1'fitrangfere." 


166  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

Bechet  were  in  utter  despair,  and  reproached  Balzac 
bitterly  for  his  absence,  while  all  his  silver  had  been 
pawned  by  his  sister  to  pay  his  most  pressing  lia- 
bilities. 

It  is  curious  about  this  time  to  notice  the  reap- 
pearance of  the  early  romantic  novels,  "Jane  la 
Pale,"  "  La  Derniere  Fee,"  and  their  fellows.1  Bal- 
zac, as  we  have  seen,  was  in  terrible  straits  for  money, 
and  he  knew  that  the  Belgians,  who  at  this  time  prac- 
tised the  most  shameless  piracy,  would  reprint  the 
books  for  their  own  advantage,  if  he  did  not.  There- 
fore, in  self-defence,  he  determined  to  bring  out  an 
edition  himself;  though,  as  he  consistently  refused 
to  acknowledge  the  authorship  of  these  despised  pro- 
ductions, the  treaty  was  drawn  up  in  the  name  of 
friends.  Nevertheless,  with  his  usual  caution,  he 
drew  up  a  secret  document  which  was  signed  by  M. 
Regnault,  one  of  those  in  whose  name  the  sale  to  the 
publisher  was  arranged,  to  the  eifect  that  the  works 
of  the  late  Horace  de  Saint- Aubin  were  really  the 
property  of  M.  de  Balzac.  "L'Heritiere  de 
Birague"  and  "Jean  Louis"  did  not  appear  in  this 
edition,  probably  owing  to  the  intervention  of  M. 
Le  Poitevin,  who  considered  them  partly  his  prop- 
erty; but  they  were  published  with  the  others  in  an 
edition  printed  in  1853,  after  a  lawsuit  between  Bal- 
zac's widow  and  his  early  collaborator. 

The  condition  of  the  whole  Balzac  family  at  the 
close  of  1835  was  tragic,  M.  Henri,  back  from 

1 "  Une  Page  Perdue  de  Honor6  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoel- 
berch  de  Lovenjoul. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  167 

abroad,  and  utterly  incapable,  as  Balzac  says,  of  doing 
anything,  talked  of  blowing  out  his  brains;  Madame 
Surville  was  ill,  Madame  Balzac's  reason  or  life  was 
despaired  of;  and  Balzac  chose  this  time  to  consult 
a  somnambulist  about  Madame  Hanska,  and  was 
told  the  distressing  news  that  she  was  in  anxiety 
of  some  sort,  and  that  her  heart  was  enlarged! 
Fortunately,  in  October,  1835,  the  Hanski  family 
returned  to  Wierzchownia,  and  the  constant  worry  to 
Balzac  of  their  proximity  to  France  was  removed 
for  the  time. 

In  December  another  misfortune  befell  Balzac. 
A  fire  broke  out  at  the  printing  office  in  the  Rue  du 
Pot-de-Fer,  and  burnt  the  first  hundred  and  sixty 
pages  of  the  third  dizain  of  the  "  Contes  Drolatiques," 
as  well  as  five  hundred  volumes  of  the  first  and  second 
dizain,  which  had  cost  him  four  francs  each.  He  thus 
lost  3,500  francs,  and  to  add  to  the  calamity,  did  not 
receive  the  sum  of  6,000  francs  which  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  events  would  have  been  due  to  him  at  the 
end  of  the  year,  when  but  for  this  disaster  he  would 
have  handed  over  the  third  dizain  to  Werdet  and  an 
associate. 

Figures  and  sums  of  money  occur  constantly  in 
Balzac's  letters;  but  his  accounts  of  his  pecuniary 
affairs  are  so  conflicting  and  so  complicated  that  it  is 
impossible  to  understand  them ;  indeed,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  he  ever  mastered  them  himself,  as  he  con- 
tinually expected  to  be  out  of  debt  in  a  few  months. 
According  to  his  own  story  to  Madame  Hanska,  he 
left  the  printing  office  owing  100,000  francs,  had  to 


168  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

find  6,000  francs  a  year  for  interest  on  this  debt,  and 
required  3,000  francs  to  live  on;  while  in  1828,  1829, 
and  1830  he  only  made  3,000  francs  each  year,  so 
that  in  three  years  he  had  increased  his  debt  by  24,000 
francs.  In  1830  the  Revolution  caused  general  dis- 
aster among  the  publishers,  and  "La  Peau  de  Cha- 
grin "  only  made  700  francs,  so  that  in  1830  and  1831 
Balzac  had  an  income  of  only  10,000  francs  a  year, 
and  had  to  pay  out  18,000  francs.  From  1833  to 
1836  he  received  10,000  francs  a  year  by  his  treaty 
with  Madame  Bechet;  6,000  of  this  he  paid  in  inter- 
est on  his  debt,  while  4,000  apparently  remained  to 
live  on.  However,  between  the  fire  in  the  Rue  du 
Pot-de-Fer,  Werdet's  delinquencies,  the  failure  of 
the  Chromque}  and  the  sums  paid  back  to  publishers 
who  had  advanced  money  on  arrangements  Balzac 
cancelled  to  fulfil  this  new  agreement,  hardly  any- 
thing was  left;  and  in  1837  he  owed  162,000  francs. 
In  August,  1835,  he  describes  his  life  thus 1  : 
"  Work,  always  work!  Heated  nights  succeed  heated 
nights,  days  of  meditation  days  of  meditation;  from 
execution  to  conception,  from  conception  to  execu- 
tion! Little  money  compared  with  what  I  want, 
much  money  compared  with  production.  If  each  of 
my  books  were  paid  like  those  of  Walter  Scott,  I 
should  manage;  but  although  well  paid,  I  do  not  at- 
tain my  goal.  I  received  8,000  francs  for  the  '  Lys ' ; 
half  of  this  came  from  the  publisher,  half  from  the 
Revue  de  Paris.  The  article  in  the  Conservateur  will 
pay  me  3,000  francs.  I  shall  have  finished  *  Sera- 

1 "  Lettres  a  Pfitrangere." 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  169 

phita,'  begun  'Les  Memoires  de  Deux  Jeunes 
Mariees,'  and  finished  Mme.  Bechet's  edition.  I  do 
not  know  whether  a  brain,  pen,  and  hand  will  ever 
before  have  accomplished  such  a  '  tour  de  force '  with 
the  help  of  a  bottle  of  ink." 

As  it  is  impossible  for  even  a  Balzac  to  live  without 
relaxation,  even  if  he  goes  without  rest,  what,  may 
we  ask,  were  his  recreations  at  this  time?  In  the  first 
place  he  often  went  to  the  theatre;  and  he  was  pas- 
sionately fond  of  music,  occupying  a  place  in  the 
box  at  the  Italian  Opera  which  was  reserved 
especially  for  dandies.  One  of  his  extravagances  was- 
a  dinner  at  which  he  entertained  the  five  other 
"tigres,"  as  the  occupants  of  this  box  were  nick- 
named, and  Rossini,  Olympe  Pelissier,  Nodier,.San- 
deau,  and  Bohain.  At  this  banquet,  the  most  sump- 
tuous fare  and  the  most  exquisite  wines  were  provided 
for  the  guests,  and  the  table  was  decked  with  the 
rarest  flowers.  Balzac  enjoyed  the  festivity  im- 
mensely, as  well  as  the  eclat  which  followed  it;  and 
relates  with  delight  that  all  Paris  was  talking  of  it, 
and  that  Rossini  said  he  had  not  seen  more  magnifi- 
cence when  he  dined  at  royal  tables. 

However  busy  he  was,  he  never  completely  de- 
prived himself  of  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  music; 
though  on  one  occasion  he  remarks  regretfully  that 
he  has  been  obliged  to  limit  his  attendance  at  the 
Opera  to  two  visits  each  month;  and  on  another,  that 
he  has  been  so  overwhelmed  with  business  that  he  has 
not  been  able  even  to  have  a  bath,  or  go  to  the  Italian 
Opera,  two  things  that  are  more  necessary  to  him 


170  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

than  bread.  His  works  abound  in  references  to  his 
beloved  art,  and  when  he  was  writing  "Massimilla 
Doni"  he  employed  a  professional  musician  to  in- 
struct him  about  it.  Beethoven,  in  particular,  he 
speaks  of  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm,  and  after  hear- 
ing his  "  Symphony  in  Ut  mineur,"  he  says  that  the 
great  musician  is  the  only  person  who  makes  him  feel 
jealous,  and  that  he  prefers  him  even  to  Rossini  and 
Mozart.  "  The  spirit  of  the  writer,"  he  says,  "  cannot 
give  such  enjoyment,  because  what  we  print  is  fin- 
ished and  determined,  whereas  Beethoven  wafts  his 
audience  to  the  infinite."  x 

The  other  amusements  of  this  great  thinker  and 
seer  would  strike  the  reader  as  strange,  if  he  did  not 
perhaps,  by  this  time,  realise  that  no  anomaly  need 
surprise  him  in  Balzac's  extraordinary  personality. 

He  writes  to  Madame  Hanska l  :  "  As  to  my  joys, 
they  are  innocent.  They  consist  in  new  furniture  for 
my  room,  a  cane  which  makes  all  Paris  chatter,  a 
divine  opera-glass,  which  my  workers  have  had  made 
by  the  optician  at  the  Observatory;  also  the  gold  but- 
tons on  my  new  coat,  buttons  chiselled  by  the  hand 
of  a  fairy,  for  the  man  who  carries  a  cane  worthy  of 
Louis  XIV.  in  the  nineteenth  century  cannot  wear 
ignoble  pinchbeck  buttons.  These  are  little  innocent 
toys  which  make  me  considered  a  millionaire.  I  have 
created  the  sect  of  the  '  Cannophiles '  in  the  world  of 
fashion,  and  every  one  thinks  me  utterly  frivolous. 
This  amuses  me ! "  Certainly  Balzac  was  not  wrong 
when  he  told  his  correspondent  that  there  was  much 
of  the  child  in  him. 

1 "  Lettres  a  1'fitrangfere." 


CHAPTER  IX 

NO  PARTICULAR  DATE 
* 

Balzac's  portrait  as  described  by  Gautier — His  character — 

Belief  in  magnetism  and  somnambulism — His 

attempts     to    become    deputy — His 

political  and  religious  views 

IN  the  Salon  of  1837  appeared  a  portrait  of  Balzac 
by  Boulanger,1  of  which  Theophile  Gautier  gave  the 
following  description  in  La  Presse:  "M.  de  Balzac 
is  not  precisely  beautiful.  His  features  are  irregular; 
he  is  fat  and  short.  Here  is  a  summary  which  does 
not  seem  to  lend  itself  to  a  painting,  but  this  is  only 
the  reverse  of  the  medal.  The  life  and  ardour 
reflected  in  the  whole  face  give  it  a  special  beauty. 

"In  his  portrait,  M.  de  Balzac,  enveloped  in  the 
large  folds  of  a  monk's  habit,  sits  with  his  arms 
crossed,  in  a  calm  and  strong  attitude;  the  neck  is 
uncovered,  the  look  firm  and  direct ;  the  light,  shining 
from  above,  illumines  the  satin-like  smoothness  of 
the  upper  parts  of  the  forehead,  and  throws  a  bright 
light  on  the  bumps  of  imagination  and  humour,  which 
are  strongly  developed  in  M.  de  Balzac;  the  black 

1See  the  chapter  entitled  "  Un  Portrait"  in  "Autour  de  Honor£  de 
Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  LovenjouL 

m 


172  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

hair,  also  lit  up,  shining  and  radiant,  comes  from  the 
temples  in  bright  waves,  and  gives  singular  light  to 
the  top  of  the  head;  the  eyes  steeped  in  a  golden 
penumbra  with  tawny  eyeballs,  on  a  moist  and  blue 
crystalline  lens  like  that  of  a  child,  send  out  a  glance 
of  astonishing  acuteness ;  the  nose,  divided  into  abrupt 
polished  flat  places,  breathes  strongly  and  passion- 
ately, through  large  red  nostrils;  the  mouth,  large 
and  voluptuous,  particularly  in  the  lower  lip,  smiles 
with  a  Rabelaisian  smile  under  the  shade  of  a  mous- 
tache much  lighter  in  colour  than  the  hair;  and  the 
chin,  slightly  raised,  is  attached  to  the  throat  by  a 
fold  of  flesh,  ample  and  strong,  which  resembles  the 
dewlap  of  a  young  bull.  The  throat  itself  is  of  ath- 
letic and  rare  strength,  the  plump  full  cheeks  are 
touched  with  the  vermilion  of  nervous  health,  and  all 
the  flesh  tints  are  resplendent  with  the  most  joyful 
and  reassuring  brilliancy. 

"  In  this  monk's  and  soldier's  head  there  is  a  mix- 
ture of  reflection  and  of  good-humour,  of  resolution 
and  of  high  spirits,  which  is  infinitely  rare ;  the  thinker 
and  good  liver  melt  into  each  other  with  quaint  har- 
mony. Put  a  cuirass  on  this  large  breast,  and  you 
will  have  one  of  those  fat  German  foot-soldiers  so 
jovially  painted  by  Terburg.  With  the  monk's  habit, 
it  is  Jean  des  Entommeurs 1 ;  nevertheless,  do  not 
forget  that  the  eyes  throw,  through  all  this  embon- 
point and  good-humour,  the  yellow  look  of  a  lion  to 
counteract  this  Flemish  familiarity.  Such  a  man 
would  be  equal  to  excesses  of  the  table,  of  pleasure, 

1  One  of  the  characters  in  Rabelais. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  173 

and  of  work.  We  are  no  longer  astonished  at  the 
immense  quantity  of  volumes  published  by  him  in 
so  short  a  time.  This  prodigious  labour  has  left  no 
trace  of  fatigue  on  the  strong  cheeks  dappled  with 
red,  and  on  the  large  white  forehead.  The  enormous 
work  which  wTould  have  crushed  six  ordinary  authors 
under  its  weight  is  hardly  the  third  of  the  monument 
he  wishes  to  raise." 

The  original  of  this  portrait  was  sent  to  Madame 
Hanska  at  Wierzchownia ;  but  a  sketch  of  it  belongs 
to  M.  Alexandre  Dumas  the  younger,  and  has  often 
been  engraved.  From  this,  it  seems  as  though 
Theophile  Gautier  must  have  read  his  knowledge  of 
Balzac's  character  as  a  whole  into  his  interpretation 
of  the  picture.  To  the  ordinary  observer,  Boulanger's 
portrait  represents  Balzac  as  the  thinker,  worker,  and 
fighter,  stern  and  strenuous;  not  the  delightful  com- 
rade who  inspired  joy  and  merriment,  and  the  recol- 
lection of  whom  made  Heine  smile  on  his  death-bed. 
The  wonderful  eyes  which  had  not  their  equal,  and 
which  asked  questions  like  a  doctor  or  a  priest,  are 
brilliantly  portrayed.  Balzac  himself  allows  this, 
though  he  complains  to  Madame  Hanska  that  they 
have  more  of  the  psychological  expression  of  the 
worker  than  of  the  loving  soul  of  the  individual — a 
fact  for  which  we  may  be  grateful  to  Boulanger. 
Balzac  is  much  delighted,  however,  with  Boulanger's 
portrayal  of  the  insistence  and  intrepid  faith  in  the 
future,  a  la  Coligny  or  a  la  Peter  the  Great,  which 
are  at  the  base  of  his  character;  and  he  goes  on  to 
give  an  attractive,  though  rather  picturesque,  account 


174  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

of  his  career  and  past  misfortunes,  which  is  evidently 
intended  to  counteract  any  misgivings  Madame 
Hanska  may  feel  at  his  sternness  as  depicted  in  the 
portrait. 

"  Boulanger  has  seen  the  writer  only,1  not  the  ten- 
derness of  the  idiot  who  will  always  be  deceived,  not 
the  softness  towards  other  people's  troubles  which 
cause  all  my  misfortunes  to  come  from  my  holding 
out  my  hand  to  weak  people  who  are  falling  into 
disaster.  In  1827  I  help  a  working  printer,  and 
therefore  in  1829  find  myself  crushed  by  fifty  thou- 
sand francs  of  debt,  and  thrown  without  bread  into  a 
gutter.  In  1833,  when  my  pen  appears  to  be  likely 
to  bring  in  enough  to  pay  off  my  obligations,  I  attach 
myself  to  Werdet.  I  wish  to  make  him  my  only  pub- 
lisher, and  in  my  desire  to  bring  him  prosperity,  I 
sign  engagements,  and  in  1837  find  myself  owing  a 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs,  and  liable  on  this 
account  to  be  put  under  arrest,  so  that  I  am  obliged 
to  hide.  During  this  time  I  make  myself  the  Don 
Quixote  of  the  poor.  I  hope  to  give  courage  to  San- 
deau,  and  I  lose  through  him  four  to  five  thousand 
francs,  which  would  have  saved  other  people."  It 
would  be  interesting  to  hear  what  Barbier  and  Werdet 
would  have  said,  if  they  had  been  allowed  to  read  this 
letter ;  but  on  Browning's  principle,  that  a  man  should 
show  one  side  to  the  world,  and  the  other  to  the 
woman  he  loves,  no  doubt  Balzac's  account  of  past 
events  was  quite  justifiable. 

Boulanger's  picture  gave  Balzac  a  great  deal  of 

1 "  Lettres  a  Pfitrangfcre." 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  175 

trouble,  as  well  as  delighted  yet  anxious  speculation 
about  Madame  Hanska's  opinion  of  it  when  it 
arrived  in  Wierzchownia.  This  was  naturally  an 
important  matter,  his  meetings  with  her  being  so  rare 
that,  except  his  letters,  the  picture  would  generally 
be  her  only  reminder  of  him;  and  for  this  reason  it 
was  most  necessary  that  it  should  show  him  at  his 
best.  It  was  therefore  very  trying  that  Boulanger 
should  have  exaggerated  the  character  of  his  quiet 
strength,  and  made  him  look  like  a  bully  and  a  sol- 
dier; and  we  can  enter  thoroughly  into  his  feelings, 
and  sympathise  heartily  with  his  uneasiness,  because 
Boulanger  has  not  quite  caught  the  fineness  of  con- 
tour under  the  fatness  of  the  face.  Undoubtedly,  the 
picture  does  not  give  the  idea  of  a  person  of  extreme 
refinement,  or  distinction  of  appearance.  Neverthe- 
less, judging  from  stories  told  by  his  contemporaries 
and  also  from  some  of  the  books  written  by 
the  great  novelist,  it  seems  likely  that  Boulanger's 
powerful  and  strongly  coloured  portrait,  though  only 
redeemed  from  coarseness  by  the  intense  concentra- 
tion of  expression  and  the  intellectual  light  in  the  won- 
derful eyes,  was  strikingly  true  to  nature,  and  caught 
one  very  real  aspect  of  the  man.  Perhaps,  however, 
it  was  not  the  one  calculated  to  work  most  strongly 
on  the  feelings  of  his  absent  lady-love ;  who,  no  doubt, 
poor  Balzac  hoped,  would  often  make  her  way  to  that 
spot  in  the  picture  gallery  where  his  picture  hung 
in  its  quaint  frame  of  black  velvet,  and  would  refresh 
herself  with  the  sight  of  her  absent  friend.  When 
her  miniature  by  Daffinger  was  sent  him,  he  was  stu- 


176  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

pefied  all  day  with  joy;  and  he  always  carried  it  about 
with  him,  considering  it  an  amulet  which  brought 
him  good  fortune. 

He  believed  in  talismans,  and  had  pretty,  fanciful 
ideas  about  being  present  to  his  friends  in  the  sudden 
flicker  of  the  fire,  or  the  brightening  of  a  candle- 
flame.  Balzac,  the  Seer,  the  believer  in  animal  mag- 
netism, in  somnambulism,  in  telepathy,  the  weaver  of 
strange  fancies  and  impossible  day-dreams — Balzac 
with  philosophical  theories  on  the  function  of 
thought,  and  faith  in  the  mystical  creed  of  Sweden- 
borg — in  short,  the  Balzac  of  "  Louis  Lambert "  and 
"  Seraphita,"  is  not,  however,  depicted  by  Boulanger: 
he  can  only  be  found  in  M.  Rodin's  wonderful  statue. 
There  the  great  voyant,  who,  in  the  beautiful  vision 
entitled  "  L'Assomption,"  saw  man  and  woman  per- 
fected and  brought  to  their  highest  development, 
stands  in  rapt  contemplation  and  concentration,  his 
head  slightly  raised,  as  if  listening  for  the  voice  of 
inspiration,  or  hearing  murmurs  of  mysteries  still 
un  fathomed. 

Somnambulism,  in  particular,  occupied  much  of 
Balzac's  attention.  He  wrote  in  1832  to  a  doctor, 
M.  Chapelain,  who  evidently  shared  his  interest  in 
the  subject,  to  ask  why  medical  men  had  not  made 
use  of  it  to  discover  the  cause  of  cholera l ;  and  on 
another  occasion,  after  an  accident  to  his  leg,  he  sent 
M.  Chapelain,  from  Aix,  two  pieces  of  flannel  which 
he  had  worn,  and  wanted  to  know  from  them  what 
caused  the  mischief,  and  why  the  doctors  at  their  last 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  147. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  177 

consultation  advised  a  blister.  Unluckily,  we  hear 
no  more  of  the  matter,  and  never  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  learning  how  much  the  learned  doctor  deduced 
from  the  fragments  submitted  to  his  inspection. 
Time  after  time  Balzac  mentions  in  his  correspond- 
ence that  he  has  consulted  somnambulists  when  he  has 
been  anxious  about  the  health  of  the  Hanski  family; 
and  it  is  curious  that  a  few  months  before  he  received 
the  letter  from  Madame  Hanska,  telling  of  her 
husband's  death,  he  had  visited  a  sorcerer,  who,  by 
means  of  cards,  told  him  many  extraordinary  things 
about  his  past  career,  and  said  that  in  six  weeks  he 
would  receive  news  which  would  change  his  whole 
life. 

The  portrait  was  still  destined  to  cause  Balzac 
much  anxiety.  After  the  close  of  the  Salon,  the 
painter  had  promised  to  take  a  copy  of  it  for 
Madame  de  Balzac,  who,  "  between  ourselves,"  Balzac 
remarked  to  Madame  Hanska,  would  not  care  much 
about  it,  and  certainly  would  not  know  the  difference 
between  the  replica  and  the  original,  in  which  the 
soul  of  the  model  was  searched  for,  examined  and 
depicted,1  and  which  was,  of  course,  to  belong  to  the 
beloved  friend. 

However,  there  were  still  many  delays.  Boulanger 
showed  "horrible  ingratitude,"  and  did  not  appre- 
ciate sufficiently  the  honour  done  him  by  his  illustrious 
sitter  in  allowing  his  portrait  to  be  taken.  He  refused 
at  first  to  begin  the  copy;  but  this  difficulty  was  at 
last  arranged,  and  the  original  was  carefully  packed 

1 "  Lettres  4  1'fitrangfere." 


178  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

in  a  wooden  crate,  instead  of  going  in  a  roll  as  Balzac 
had  at  first  intended.  Still  there  were  innumerable 
stoppages,  and  doubt  where  the  precious  canvas  was 
located;  till  the  impatient  Balzac  was  only  deterred 
from  his  intenton  of  starting  a  lawsuit  against  the 
authorities,  by  a  fear  of  bringing  the  noble  name  of 
Hanski  into  notoriety.  It  is  sad  that  the  last  time  we 
hear  of  this  precious  picture  in  Balzac's  lifetime  was 
when  he  went  to  Wierzchownia,  in  1849;  and  then  it 
had  been  relegated  to  a  library  which  few  people 
visited,  and  he  describes  it  with  his  usual  energy,  as 
the  most  hideous  daub  it  is  possible  to  see — quite 
black,  from  the  faulty  mixing  of  the  colour ;  a  canvas 
of  which,  for  the  sake  of  France,  he  is  thoroughly 
ashamed. 

The  sketch  of  the  portrait  is  not  disfigured;  and 
the  engravings  of  it  give  an  interesting  view  of 
Balzac's  personality.  With  due  deference  to  the  great 
psychologist,  we  cannot  think  the  painter  was  wrong 
in  imparting  a  slightly  truculent  expression  to  the 
face.  Balzac  was  essentially  a  fighter:  he  started 
life  with  a  struggle  against  his  family,  against  the 
opinion  of  his  friends,  and,  harder  than  all,  against 
his  own  impotence  to  give  expression  to  his  genius; 
and  in  the  course  of  his  career  he  made  countless 
enemies,  and  finished  by  enrolling  among  their  ranks 
most  of  the  literary  men  of  the  day.  This  alienation 
was  to  a  great  extent  caused  by  his  inveterate  habit 
of  boasting,  of  applying  the  adjectives  "  sublime " 
and  "magnificent"  to  his  own  works;  an  idiosyn- 
cracy  which  was  naturally  annoying  to  his  brother 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  179 

authors.  It  was  deprecated  even  by  his  devoted  and 
admiring  friends;  though  they  knew  that,  as  George 
Sand  says,  it  was  only  caused  by  the  naivete  of  an 
artist,  to  whom  his  work  was  all-important. 

His  personal  charm  was  so  great  that  Werdet,  his 
enemy,  says  that  in  his  presence  those  who  loved  him 
forgot  any  real  or  fancied  complaint  against  him, 
and  only  remembered  the  affection  they  felt  for  him. 
Nevertheless,  in  the  course  of  his  life  of  fighting,  his 
ever-pressing  anxieties  and  the  strain  of  his  work, 
coupled  with  his  belief  in  the  importance  and  sacred- 
ness  of  his  destiny,  made  him  something  of  an  egotist. 
Therefore,  in  spite  of  his  real  goodness  of  heart,  he 
would  sometimes  shoulder  his  way  through  the  world, 
oblivious  of  the  unfortunate  people  who  had  come  to 
grief  owing  to  their  connection  with  him,  and  careless 
of  the  lesser,  though  very  real,  troubles  of  harassed 
and  exasperated  editors,  when  his  promised  copy  was 
not  forthcoming. 

Like  Napoleon,  to  whom,  amidst  the  gibes  of  his 
contemporaries,  he  likened  himself,  he  wanted  every- 
thing; and  those  with  this  aspiration  must  necessarily 
be  heedless  of  their  neighbours'  smaller  ambitions. 
"  Without  genius,  I  am  undone! "  he  cried  in  despair; 
but  when  it  was  proved  beyond  dispute  that  this  gift 
of  debatable  beneficence  was  his,  he  was  still  unsat- 
isfied. 

What,  after  all,  was  the  use  of  genius  except  as 
a  stepping-stone  to  the  solid  good  things  of  the  earth? 
Where  lay  the  advantage  of  superiority  to  ordinary 
men,  if  it  could  not  be  employed  as  a  lever  with  which 


180  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

to  raise  oneself?  Reasoning  thus,  his  extraordinary 
versatility,  his  power  of  assimilation,  and  his  varied 
interests,  made  his  ambitions  many  and  diverse.  The 
man  who  could  enter  with  the  masterly  familiarity  of 
an  expert  into  affairs  of  Church,  State,  Society,  and 
Finance,  who  would  talk  of  medicine  like  a  doctor,  or 
of  science  like  a  savant,  naturally  aspired  to  excellence 
in  many  directions. 

At  times,  as  we  have  already  seen,  strange  fancies 
filled  his  brain :  dreams,  for  instance,  of  occupying  the 
highest  posts  in  the  land,  or  of  gaining  fabulous  sums 
of  money  by  some  wildly  impossible  scheme,  such  as 
visiting  the  Great  Mogul  with  a  magical  ring,  or  ob- 
taining rubies  and  emeralds  from  a  rich  Dutchman. 
The  two  apparently  incompatible  sides  to  Balzac's 
character  are  difficult  to  reconcile.  On  some  occa- 
sions he  appears  as  the  keen  business  man,  who  studies 
facts  in  their  logical  sequence,  and  has  the  power  of 
drawing  up  legal  documents  with  no  necessary  point 
omitted.  The  masterly  Code  which  he  composed  for 
the  use  of  the  "  Societe  des  Gens-de-Lettres  "  is  an 
example  of  this  faculty.  At  other  times  we  are 
astonished  to  find  that  the  great  writer  is  a  credulous 
believer  in  impossibilities,  and  a  follower  of  strange 
superstitions.  A  similar  paradox  may  be  found  in 
his  books,  where,  side  by  side  with  a  truth  and  occa- 
sional brutality  which  make  him  in  some  respects  the 
forerunner  of  the  realists,  we  find  a  wealth  of  imagi- 
nation and  insistence  on  the  power  of  the  higher 
emotions,  which  are  completely  alien  to  the  school  of 
Flaubert  and  Zola. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  181 

Perhaps  his  own  dictum,  that  genius  is  never  quite 
sane,  gives  a  partial  explanation  of  many  of  his  fan- 
tastic schemes.  The  question  of  money  was  his  great 
preoccupation  and  anxiety,  and  possibly  his  pecu- 
niary difficulties,  and  the  strain  of  the  heavy  chain  of 
debt  he  dragged  after  him,  constantly  adding  to  its 
weight  by  some  fresh  extravagance,  had  affected  his 
mind  on  this  one  point.  Marriage  with  poverty  he 
could  not  conceive;  and,  as  he  was  intensely  affec- 
tionate, he  longed  for  a  home  and  womanly  compan- 
ionship. "  Is  there  no  woman  in  the  world  for  me? "  he 
cried  despairingly;  but  in  this,  as  in  everything  else, 
he  required  so  much,  that  it  was  difficult  to  find  any 
one  who  would,  in  his  eyes,  be  worthy  to  become 
Madame  Honore  de  Balzac.  His  wife  must  be  no 
ordinary  woman;  in  addition  to  birth  and  wealth,  she 
must  possess  youth,  beauty,  and  high  intellectual 
gifts;  and  one  great  difficulty  was,  that  the  lady 
endowed  with  this  combination  of  excellencies  would 
naturally  require  some  winning,  and  Balzac  had  no 
time  to  woo.  However,  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
that  his  married  life  should  be  one  of  luxury  and 
magnificence,  beautiful  surroundings  being  indispen- 
sable to  his  scheme  of  existence,  "  II  faut,"  he  said, 
"que  1'artiste  mene  une  vie  splendide."  Therefore, 
till  the  right  lady  was  found,  Balzac  toiled  unceas- 
ingly; and  when  in  Madame  Hanska  the  personifi- 
cation of  his  ideal  at  last  appeared,  he  redoubled  his 
efforts,  till  overwork,  and  his  longing  for  her,  caused 
the  decay  of  his  physical  powers,  and  his  strength  for 
labour  diminished. 


182  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

Literature,  a  rich  marriage,  a  successful  play,  or  a 
political  career,  were  all  incidentally  to  make  his  for- 
tune; though  it  must  be  said,  in  justice,  that  this 
motive,  though  it  entwines  itself  with  everything  in 
Balzac's  life,  was  not  his  only,  or  even  his  principal 
incentive  to  action. 

In  his  desire  to  become  a  deputy,  for  instance,  the 
longing  to  serve  his  country  and  to  have  a  voice  in 
her  Councils,  which  he  would  use  boldly,  conscien- 
tiously, without  fear  or  favour,  to  further  her  true 
interests,  was  ever  present  with  him.  As  early  as 
1819  he  had  begun  to  take  the  keenest  interest  in  the 
elections,  telling  M.  Dablin,  from  whom  he  wanted  a 
visit,  that  he  dreamed  of  nothing  but  him  and  the 
deputies,  and  begging  him  for  a  complete  list  of  those 
chosen  in  each  department,  with  a  short  notice  of  his 
opinion  on  each. 

By  the  law  of  election  of  1830,  any  Frenchman 
who  was  thirty  years  of  age,  and  contributed  500 
francs  a  year  directly,  in  taxes,  was  eligible  as  a 
deputy. 

When  the  law  was  made  Balzac  was  thirty- 
one,  and  paid  the  requisite  amount;  he  therefore  de- 
termined, in  spite  of  his  enormous  output  of  literary 
work  at  this  time,  to  add  the  career  of  a  deputy  to  his 
labours;  and  in  April,  1831,  he  wrote  to  ask  for  the 
assistance  of  the  General  Baron  de  Pommereul,  with 
whom  he  had  been  staying  at  Fougeres,  collecting 
material  for  "  Les  Chouans,"  while  at  the  same  time 
he  worked  up  the  country  politically.  His  manifesto, 
at  this  period,  is  found  in  the  "  Enquete  sur  la  Poli- 


HONORB    DE    BALZAC  183 

tique  des  Deux  Ministeres,"  L  in  which  he  calls  the 
Government  a  "  monarchic  tempere  par  les  emeutes," 
objects  to  the  "  juste  milieu  "  observed  by  the  Minis- 
ters; and  while  bringing  forward,  with  apparent 
impartiality,  the  advantages  of  the  two  courses  of 
peace  and  war,  very  evidently  longs  for  France  to 
take  the  battlefield  again,  to  obtain  what  he  considers 
her  natural  frontier,  that  of  the  Rhine.  He  also 
enters  con  amore  into  the  details  of  raising  a  Napo- 
leonic army,  and  of  establishing  the  system  of  the 
Landwehr  in  France.  A  very  remarkable  passage  in 
this  manifesto  is  that  on  the  Press ;  by  which,  he  says, 
the  Government  is  terrorised.  With  extraordinary 
penetration,  he  advises  that  the  strength  of  jour- 
nalism shall  be  broken  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  three  or 
four  millions  gained  by  the  "  timbre,"  and  the  libera- 
tion of  the  newspapers  from  duty.  Then,  instead  of 
twelve  newspapers,  which  are  stronger  than  the  seven 
ministers — for  they  upset  the  Government,  and  can- 
not be  themselves  suppressed — there  will  be  a  hun- 
dred, and  the  number  will  neutralise  their  power,  so 
that  they  will  become  of  no  account  politically. 

Balzac  had  no  chance  at  Fougeres,  where  a  rich 
proprietor  of  the  neighbourhood  was  chosen  as 
deputy,  and  no  doubt  M.  de  Pommereul  advised  him 
not  to  proceed  further  in  the  matter.  However,  with 
his  usual  tenacity,  he  wrote  in  September  to  M.  Henri 
Berthoud,  manager  of  the  Gazette  de  Cambrai,  who 

1  Another  political  pamphlet,  entitled  "  Du  Gouvernment  Moderne," 
written  by  Balzac  at  Aix  in  1832,  has  lately  been  published  in  the  North 
American  Review.  The  original  is  in  the  collection  of  the  Vicomte  de 
Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


184  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

wanted  to  collaborate  with  the  Revue  de  Paris,  prom- 
ising to  further  his  wishes  by  all  the  means  in  his 
power,  if  M.  Berthoud  would,  on  his  part,  support 
his  candidature  at  Cambrai.  At  the  same  time,  he 
determined  to  try  Angouleme,  where  he  sometimes 
went  to  stay  with  a  relation,  M.  Grand-Besan9on, 
and  had  met  a  M.  Berges,  chief  of  the  Government 
preparatory  school,  who  was  much  struck  by  his 
talent,  and  promised  to  help  him.  In  June,  1831,  he 
wrote  to  Madame  Carraud,1  who  took  much  interest 
in  his  political  aspirations,  and  sent  her  three  copies 
of  the  Manifesto  for  distribution.  He  told  her  that 
he  was  working  day  and  night  to  become  deputy,  was 
going  out  into  society  for  this  purpose;  and  was  so 
overwhelmed  with  business  that  he  had  not  touched 
"La  Peau  de  Chagrin"  since  he  was  last  at  Saint- 
Cyr. 

He  was  evidently  full  of  hope;  but  in  spite  of  the 
powerful  support  of  the  Revue  de  Paris,  the  Temps, 
the  Debuts,  and  the  Voleur,  the  steady-going  electors 
had  no  mind  to  be  represented  by  a  penniless  young 
author,  who  was  chiefly  known  to  the  general  public  as 
the  writer  of  the  "  Physiologic  du  Mariage,"  a  book 
distinctly  not  adapted  for  family  reading.  Therefore, 
in  this,  as  in  many  other  hopes  of  his  life,  Balzac  was 
doomed  to  disappointment;  though  the  readers  of 
novels  may  be  grateful  to  the  unkind  fate  which 
caused  him  to  turn  with  renewed  ardour  to  the 
neglected  "  Peau  de  Chagrin."  He  cherished  a  slight 
resentment  against  Angouleme,  as  he  showed  in 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  118. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  185 

"  Illusions  Perdues,"  where  the  aristocracy  of  that 
town  are  rather  unkindly  treated;  but  he  was  not 
discouraged  in  his  political  ambitions,  and  in  1832  he 
joined  with  M.  Laurentie,  the  Due  de  Noailles,  the 
Due  de  Fitz- James  (nephew  to  the  Princesse  de 
Chimay,  who  acted  as  proxy  for  Marie  Antoinette  at 
Madame  de  Berny's  christening)  and  others,  to  found 
a  Legitimist  journal,  the  Renovateur.  In  this  ap- 
peared an  article  against  the  proposed  destruction  of 
the  monument  to  the  Due  de  Berry,  in  which  Balzac 
indignantly  asks :  "  Why  do  you  not  finish  the  monu- 
ment, and  raise  an  altar  where  the  priests  may  pray 
God  to  pardon  the  assassin?" 

Having  thus  shown  his  principles  clearly  he  turned 
his  attention  in  1832  to  Chinon,  which  was  close  to- 
Tours,  where  he  and  his  family  had  lived  for  so  long, 
and  to  Sache,  where  he  was  a  constant  visitor.  There, 
if  anywhere,  he  seemed  likely  to  succeed;  and  the 
Quotidienne,  the  paper  which  afterwards  supported 
him  during  his  lawsuit  against  the  Revue  de  Paris, 
had  promised  its  voice  in  his  favour.  Again  cruel 
Fate  dogged  his  footsteps,  as  in  May  he  tumbled  out 
of  his  tilbury,  and  his  head  came  violently  into  con- 
tact with  what  he  calls  the  "heroic  pavements  of 
July  " ;  the  accident  being  a  sad  result  of  his  childish 
delight  in  driving  at  a  tremendous  pace  in  the  Bois, 
which  is  rebuked  by  his  sage  adviser,  Madame  Car- 
raud.  Certainly  carriages,  horses,  and  a  stable, 
seemed  hardly  prudent  acquisitions  for  a  man  in  debt ; 
but  Balzac  always  defended  his  pet  extravagances 
with  the  specious  reasoning  that  nothing  succeeds 


186  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

like  success ;  and  that  most  of  his  literary  friends  did 
not  become  rich  because  they  lived  in  garrets,  and 
were  on  that  account  trampled  on  by  haughty  pub- 
lishers and  editors.  He  writes  to  Madame  de  Girar- 
din  on  this  occasion:  "Only  think,  that  I  who  am  so 
handsome  have  been  cruelly  disfigured  for  several 
days,  and  it  has  seemed  curious  to  be  uglier  than  I 
really  am."  1  As  a  further  and  more  serious  result, 
he  was  laid  up  in  bed,  and  had  to  undergo  a  severe 
regimen  of  bleeding,  during  the  time  that  he  should 
have  been  at  Sache,  working  hard  about  his  election; 
and  when  he  did  arrive  there,  in  June,  he  recognised 
that  he  was  too  late  for  success.  However,  another 
dissolution,  which  after  all  did  not  take  place,  was 
expected  in  September,  and  Balzac  looked  forward  to 
making  a  determined  attempt  then.  This  hope  being 
frustrated,  it  was  not  till  1834  that  he  again  came 
forward  as  a  candidate:  this  time  for  Villefranche, 
where,  curiously  enough,  another  M.  de  Balzac  was 
nominated,  and  when  M.  de  Hanski  wrote  to  con- 
gratulate Balzac,  the  latter  was  obliged  to  explain  the 
mistake.  On  this  occasion  he  had  purposed  to  present 
himself  as  champion  of  the  Bourbon  Royal  Family, 
especially  of  the  Duchesse  de  Berry,  for  whom  he 
had  an  immense  admiration,  while  she  read  his  books 
with  much  delight  during  her  captivity  in  the  Castle 
of  Blaye.  He  wrote  to  M.  de  Hanski  that  he  con- 
sidered the  exile  of  Madame  and  the  Comte  de  Cham- 
bord  the  great  blot  on  France  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, as  the  French  Revolution  had  been  her  shame  in 
the  eighteenth. 

a  "  Cornespondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  147. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC 


1ST 


This  was  Balzac's  last  serious  attempt  to  stand  for 
Parliament  during  the  Monarchy  of  July,  though  he 
often  talked  in  his  letters  to  Madame  Hanska  of  his 
political  aspirations,  looked  forward  to  becoming  a 
deputy  in  1839,  and  hoped  till  then  to  dominate 
European  opinion — rather  a  large  ambition — by  a 
political  publication.  In  his  letters  he  is  continually 
on  the  point  of  beginning  his  career  as  a  statesman; 
and  in  1835  his  views  are  even  more  inflated  than 
usual.  He  will  absorb  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes 
and  the  Revue  de  Paris,  is  in  treaty  to  obtain  one 
newspaper,  and  will  start  two  others  himself,  so  that 
his  power  will  be  irresistible.  "  Le  temps  presse,  les 
evenements  se  compliquent,"  l  he  cries  impatiently. 
He  is  still  strangled  by  want  of  money — a  hundred 
thousand  francs  is  the  modest  sum  he  requires;  but 
he  will  write  a  play  in  the  name  of  his  secretary,  and 
the  spectre  of  debt  will  be  laid  for  ever. 

However,  in  the  stress  of  work,  which  made  his  own 
life  like  the  crowded  canvas  of  one  of  his  own  novels, 
these  brilliant  schemes  came  to  nothing,  and  Balzac 
was  never  in  the  proud  position  of  a  deputy.  He 
gives  his  views  clearly  in  a  letter  to  Madame  Carraud 
in  1830.2  "  France  ought  to  be  a  constitutional  mon- 
archy, to  have  a  hereditary  royal  family,  a  house  of 
peers  of  extraordinary  strength,  which  will  represent 
property,  etc.,  writh  all  possible  guarantees  for  hered- 
ity, and  privileges  of  which  the  nature  must  be 
discussed;  then  a  second  assembly,  elective,  repre- 

1 "  Lettres  &  Pfetrangfcre." 

2 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  108. 


.      /.- 


188  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

senting  all  the  interests  of  the  intermediary  mass, 
which  separates  those  of  high  social  position  from  the 
classes  who  are  generally  termed  the  people. 

"  The  purport  of  the  laws,  and  their  spirit,  should 
he  designed  to  enlighten  the  masses  as  much  as  possi- 
ble— those  who  have  nothing,  the  workmen,  the  com- 
mon people,  etc.,  in  order  that  as  many  as  possible 
should  arrive  at  the  intermediary  state ;  but  the  people 
should,  at  the  same  time,  be  kept  under  a  most  power- 
ful yoke,  so  that  its  individuals  may  find  light,  help, 
and  protection,  and  that  no  idea,  no  statute,  no  tran- 
saction, may  make  them  turbulent. 

"  The  greatest  possible  liberty  should  be  allowed 
to  the  leisured  classes,  for  they  possess  something  to 
keep,  they  have  everything  to  lose,  they  can  never  be 
dissolute. 

"As  much  power  as  possible  should  be  granted  to 
the  Government.  Thus  the  Government,  the  rich 
people,  and  the  bourgeoisie  have  interest  in  keeping 
the  lowest  class  happy,  and  in  increasing  the  number 
of  the  middle  class,  which  is  the  true  strength  of  the 
state. 

"  If  rich  people,  the  hereditary  possessors  of  for- 
tune in  the  highest  Chamber,  are  corrupt  in  their 
manners,  and  start  abuses,  these  are  inseparable  from 
the  existence  of  all  society ;  they  must  be  accepted,  to 
balance  the  advantages  given." 

This  extract  is  taken  from  a  letter  which  is,  Balzac 
tells  his  correspondent,  strictly  private;  but,  with  his 
usual  independence  and  fearlessness,  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  enunciate  his  opinions  in  public,  and  invariably 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  189 

refused  to  stoop  to  compromise  or  to  disguise.  Con- 
sequently, we  cannot  wonder  that  he  never  attained 
his  ambition;  particularly  as  he  lacked  the  aid  of 
money,  and  had  no  support,  except  the  politically 
doubtful  one  of  a  literary  reputation.  His  penetra- 
tion and  power  of  prescience  were  remarkable,  and  it 
is  startling  to  find  that  he  foretells  the  fall  of  the 
Monarchy  of  July,  and  the  Revolution  of  1848.1  "  I 
do  not  think,"  he  says,  "that  in  ten  years  from  now 
the  actual  form  of  government  will  subsist — August, 
1830,  has  forgotten  the  part  played  by  youth  and  in- 
telligence. Youth  compressed  will  burst  like  the 
boiler  of  a  steam  engine."  In  "Les  Paysans,"  one  of 
his  most  wonderful  novels,  he  gives  a  vivid  picture  of 
the  constant  struggle  going  on  under  the  surface 
between  the  peasants  and  the  bourgeoisie,  and  shows 
that  the  triumph  of  the  former  class  must  be  the 
inevitable  result. 

His  was  essentially  a  loyal,  reverential  nature,  with 
the  soldierly  respect  for  constituted  authority  which 
is  often  the  characteristic  of  strong  natures;  and  he 
was  absolutely  unswerving  in  his  principles — the 
courage  and  tenacity  which  distinguished  him 
through  life  never  deserting  him  in  political  emergen- 
cies. He  was  patriotic  and  high-minded;  absolutely 
immovable  in  all  that  concerned  his  duty.  On  one 
occasion,  when  it  was  proposed  at  a  public  meeting 
that  the  Legitimists  should  follow  the  example  of 
their  political  opponents  and  should  stoop  to  evil 
doings,  he  refused  decidedly,  saying:  "The  cause  of 

1 "  Revue  Parisienne,"  p.  26. 


190  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

the  life  of  man  is  superhuman.  It  is  God  who  judges; 
His  judgment  does  not  hinge  on  our  passions."  In 
his  eyes,  Religion  and  Monarchy  were  twin  sisters, 
and  he  speaks  sadly  in  "  Le  Medecin  de  Campagne  " 
of  the  downfall  of  both  these  powers.  "With  the 
monarchy  we  have  lost  honour,  with  our  unfruitful 
attempts  at  government,  patriotism;  and  with  our 
fathers'  religion,  Christian  virtue.  These  principles 
now  only  exist  partially,  instead  of  inspiring  the 
masses,  for  these  ideas  never  perish  altogether.  At 
present,  to  support  society  we  have  nothing  but  self- 
ishness." 2  Elsewhere  he  laments  the  atheistic  gov- 
ernment, and  the  increase  of  incredulity;  and  longs 
for  Christian  institutions,  and  a  strong  hierarchy, 
united  to  a  religious  society. 

Balzac  was  not  orthodox.  There  is  no  doubt,  from 
a  letter  to  Madame  Hanska,  that  the  Swedenborgian 
creed  he  enunciates  in  "  Seraphita "  is  to  a  great 
extent  his  own ;  but  he  believed  in  God,  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  considered  natural  religion,  of 
which,  in  his  eyes,  the  Bourbons  were  the  depositors, 
absolutely  essential  to  the  well-being  of  a  State.  He 
had  a  great  respect  for  the  priesthood,  and  has  left 
many  a  charming  and  sympathetic  picture  of  the 
parish  cure,  such  as  1'Abbe  Janvier  in  "Le  Medecin 
de  Campagne,"  who  acts  hand  in  hand  with  the  good 
doctor  Benassis,  as  an  enlightened  benefactor  to  the 
poor;  or  1'Abbe  Bonnet,  the  hero  of  "Le  Cure  du 
Village,"  whose  face  had  "the  impress  of  faith,  an 

1 "  Balzac  et  ses  GEuvres,"  by  Lamartine  de  Prat. 
2  "  Le  Medecin  de  Campagne." 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  191 

impress  giving  the  stamp  of  the  human  greatness 
which  approaches  most  nearly  to  divine  greatness, 
and  of  which  the  undefinable  expression  beautifies 
the  most  ordinary  features."  In  "  Les  Paysans  "  we 
have  another  fine  portrait,  1'Abbe  Brossette,  who  is 
doing  his  work  nobly  among  debased  and  cunning 
peasants.  'To  serve  was  his  motto,  to  serve  the 
Church  and  the  Monarchy  at  the  most  menaced 
points;  to  serve  in  the  last  rank,  like  a  soldier  who 
feels  destined  sooner  or  later  to  rise  to  generalship, 
by  his  desire  to  do  well,  and  by  his  courage." 

There  is  a  beautiful  touch  in  that  terrible  book 
"La  Cousine  Bette,"  where  the  infamous  Madame 
Marneffe  is  dying  of  a  loathsome  and  infectious  dis- 
ease, so  that  even  Bette,  who  feels  for  her  the 
"  strongest  sentiment  known,  the  affection  of  a  woman 
for  a  woman,  had  not  the  heroic  constancy  of  the 
Church,"  and  could  not  enter  the  room.  Religion 
alone,  in  the  guise  of  a  Sister  of  Mercy,  watched  over 
her. 


CHAPTER  X 

1836 


Balzac  starts  the  Chronique  de  Paris — Balzac  and  Theophile  Gau- 
tier — Lawsuit  with  the  Revue  de  Paris — Failure  of  the  Chro- 
nique— Travels  in  Italy — Madame  Marbouty — Death  of 
Madame  de  Berny — Balzac  is  imprisoned  for  refu- 
sal   to    serve    in    Garde     Nationale — Wer- 
det's  failure — Disastrous  year  1836 

BALZAC  opened  the  first  day  of  the  year  1836  by 
becoming  proprietor  of  the  Chronique  de  Paris,  an 
obscure  Legitimist  publication,  which  had  been 
founded  in  1834  by  M.  William  Duckett.  It  started 
under  Balzac's  management  with  a  great  flourish  of 
trumpets,  the  Comte  (afterwards  Marquis)  de  Belloy 
and  the  Comte  de  Gramont  taking  posts  as  his  secre- 
taries; while  Jules  Sandeau,  Emile  Regnault,  Gus- 
tave  Planche,  Theophile  Gautier,  Charles  de  Bernard, 
and  others,  became  his  collaborators.  Balzac's 
special  work  was  to  provide  a  series  of  papers 
on  political  questions,  entitled  "La  France  et 
1'Etranger,"  papers  which  show  his  extraordinary 
versatility;  and  his  helpers  were  to  provide  novels 
and  poems,  satire,  drama,  and  social  criticism;  so  that 
the  scope  of  the  periodical  was  a  wide  one. 

At  first,  Balzac  was  most  sanguine  about  the  suc- 

192 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  193 

cess  of  his  new  enterprise,  and  was  very  active  and 
enthusiastic  in  working  for  it.  On  March  27th  he 
wrote  to  Madame  Hanska  about  the  embarrassment 
caused  him  by  his  plate  having  been  pawned  during 
his  unfortunate  absence  in  Vienna,  nearly  a  year  ago. 
It  was  worth  five  or  six  thousand  francs,  and  he  re- 
quired three  thousand  to  redeem  it.  This  sum  he  had 
never  been  able  to  raise,  while,  to  add  to  his  difficulties, 
on  the  31st  of  the  month  he  would  owe  about  eight 
thousand  four  hundred  francs.  Nevertheless,  he 
must  have  the  silver  next  day  or  perish,  as  he  had 
asked  some  people  to  dine  who  would,  he  hoped, 
give  sixteen  thousand  francs  for  sixteen  shares  in  the 
Chronique. 

If  borrowed  plate  were  on  his  table  he  was 
terribly  afraid  that  the  whole  transaction  would 
fail;  as  one  of  the  people  invited  was  a  painter,  and 
painters  are  an  "  observant,  malicious,  profound  race, 
who  take  in  everything  at  a  glance."  Everything 
else  in  his  rooms  would  represent  the  opulence,  ease, 
and  wealth  of  the  happy  artist. 

Poor  Balzac!  To  add  to  his  difficulties,  it  was  im- 
possible to  borrow  anywhere  in  Paris,  as  he  had  only 
purchased  the  Chronique  through  the  exceptional 
credit  he  enjoyed,  and  this  would  be  at  once  destroyed 
if  he  were  known  to  be  in  difficulties.  We  do  not  hear 
any  further  particulars  about  this  tragedy,  and  can- 
not tell  how  far  the  conjunction  of  the  borrowed  plate 
—if  it  were  after  all  borrowed — and  the  astute 
painter,  contributed  to  the  downfall  of  the  Chro- 

1 "  Lettres  a  1'fitrangere." 


194  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

nique.  Werdet,  however,  attributes  the  disaster  to  the 
laziness  of  the  talented  staff,  who  could  not  be 
induced  to  work  together.  However  that  may  be,  the 
result  was  a  terrible  blow  to  Balzac;  who  was  now,  in 
addition  to  all  his  other  liabilities,  in  debt  for  forty 
thousand  francs  to  the  shareholders. 

It  is  as  a  member  of  the  staff  of  the  Chronique, 
that  the  name  of  Theophile  Gautier  first  appears  in 
connection  with  Balzac;  and  the  two  men  remained 
close  friends  till  Balzac's  death.  In  1835  Theophile 
Gautier  published  "Mademoiselle  de  Maupin,"  in 
which  his  incomparable  style  excited  Balzac's  intense 
admiration,  painfully  conscious  as  he  was  of  his  own 
deficiencies  in  this  direction.  Therefore,  in  forming 
the  staff  of  the  Chr antique,  he  at  once  thought  of 
Gautier,  and  despatched  Jules  Sandeau  to  arrange 
matters  with  the  young  author,  and  to  give  him  an 
invitation  to  breakfast.  Theophile  Gautier,  much 
flattered,  but  at  the  same  time  rather  alarmed  at  the 
idea  of  an  interview  with  the  celebrated  Balzac,  tells 
us  that  he  thought  over  various  brilliant  discourses  on 
his  way  to  the  Rue  Cassini,  but  was  so  nervous  when 
he  arrived  that  all  his  preparations  came  to  nothing, 
and  he  merely  remarked  on  the  fineness  of  the 
weather.  However,  Balzac  soon  put  him  at  his  ease, 
and  evidently  took  a  fancy  to  him  at  once,  as  during 
breakfast  he  let  him  into  the  secret  that  for  this 
solemn  occasion  he  had  borrowed  silver  dishes  from 
his  publisher! 

The  friendship  between  Balzac  and  Gautier,  though 
not  as  intimate  and  confidential  as  that  between 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  195 

Balzac  and  Borget,  was  true  and  steadfast;  and  was 
never  disturbed  by  literary  jealousy.  Gautier  sup- 
ported Balzac's  plays  in  La  Presse,  and  helped  with 
many  of  his  writings.  Traces  of  his  workmanship, 
M.  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul  tells  us,  are  specially 
noticeable  in  the  descriptions  of  the  art  of  painting 
and  of  the  studio,  in  the  edition  of  "Un  Chef- 
d'CEuvre  Inconnu"  which  appears  in  1837.1  These 
descriptions  are  in  Gautier 's  manner,  and  do  not 
appear  in  the  edition  of  1831;  so  that  in  all  proba- 
bility they  were  written,  or  at  any  rate  inspired  by 
him. 

Gautier  also  wrote  for  Balzac,  who  had  absolutely 
no  faculty  for  verse,  the  supposed  translation  of  two 
Spanish  sonnets  in  the  "Memoires  de  Deux  Jeunes 
Mariees,"  and  the  sonnet  called  "La  Tulipe  "  in  "  Un 
Grand  Homme  de  Province  a  Paris."  On  his  side, 
Balzac  defended  Gautier  on  all  occasions,  and  in  1839 
dedicated  "Les  Secrets  de  la  Princesse  de  Cadignan," 
then  called  "Une  Princesse  Parisienne,"  "A  Theo- 
phile  Gautier,  son  ami,  H.  de  Balzac." 

Beyond  this  friendship,  the  affair  of  the  Chro- 
nique  brought  Balzac  nothing  but  worry  and  trouble. 
And  it  came  at  a  time  when  misfortune  assailed  him 
on  all  sides.  Madame  de  Berny  was  approaching  her 
end,  and  he  wrote  to  his  mother  on  January  1st,  1836, 
the  day  he  started  the  Chronique  de  Paris:  "Ah!  my 
poor  mother,  I  am  broken-hearted.  Madame  de 
Berny  is  dying!  It  is  impossible  to  doubt  it!  Only 


1  u 


H.  de  Balzac  and  Theophile  Gautier "  in  "  Autour  de  Honor£  de 
Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


196  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

God  and  I  know  what  is  my  despair.  And  I  must 
work!  work  weeping."1 

In  the  midst  of  his  trouble,  a  most  unfortunate 
occurrence  took  place,  which  besides  embittering  his 
life  at  the  time  had  a  decided  effect  on  his  subsequent 
career;  and  indirectly  obscured  his  reputation  even 
after  his  death. 

In  1833,  as  we  have  already  seen,  Balzac,  after  long 
dissensions  with  Amedee  Pichot,  had  definitely  left 
the  Revue  de  Paris.  However,  in  1834,  when  Pichot 
retired  from  the  management,  the  new  directors, 
MM.  Anthoine  de  Saint-Joseph,  Bonnaire,  and 
Achille  Brindeau,  tried  to  satisfy  their  readers  by 
recalling  Balzac;  and  "Seraphita"  began  to  appear 
in  the  pages  of  the  Revue.  Difficulties,  as  might  be 
expected,  soon  arose  between  Balzac  and  the  manage- 
ment; and  the  undercurrent  of  irritation  which  sub- 
sisted on  both  sides  only  required  some  slight  extra 
cause  of  offence  to  render  an  outbreak  inev- 
itable. 

In  September,  1835,  M.  Buloz,  already  director  of 
the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  an  extremely  able  but 
bad-mannered  and  dictatorial  man,  took  possession 
also  of  the  much-tossed-about  Revue  de  Paris.  Balzac 
had  known  Buloz  since  1831,  when  the  latter  had 
bought  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  which  was  then 
in  very  low  water,  and  was  working  with  tremendous 
energy  to  make  it  successful.  At  that  time,  Buloz 
and  he  often  shared  a  modest  dinner,  and  with  the 
permission  of  M.  Rabou,  then  manager  of  the  Revue 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  323. 


197 

de  Paris,  Balzac  contributed  "L'Enfant  Maudit," 
"  Le  Message,"  and  "  Le  Rendez-Vous  "  to  the  Revue 
des  Deux  Monde*,  and  only  charged  a  hundred  francs 
for  the  same  quantity  of  pages  for  which  he  was  paid 
a  hundred  and  sixty  francs  by  Rabou.  However,  on 
April  15th,  1832,  there  appeared  in  the  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes  a  scathing  anonymous  criticism  of  the 
first  dizain  of  the  "  Contes  Drolatiques."  This  had 
apparently  been  written  by  Gustave  Planche;  but 
Balzac  considered  Buloz  responsible  for  it,  and  there- 
fore refused  to  write  any  longer  for  his  Review.  In 
August,  1832,  Buloz,  who  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  particularly  scrupulous  in  his  business  relations, 
wrote  to  apologise,  saying  that  though  it  was  not  in 
his  power  to  suppress  the  offending  article,  he  had 
done  his  best  to  soften  it;  and  that  now  he  was  sole 
master  of  the  Review,  so  that  not  a  word  or  a  line 
could  pass  without  his  permission.  He  therefore 
begged  Balzac  to  resume  his  old  connection  with  him, 
and  explained  that  if  he  had  not  been  confined  to  his 
bed  and  unable  to  walk,  or  even  to  bear  the  shaking 
of  a  cab,  he  would  have  come  to  visit  him,  and  matters 
would  have  been  quickly  arranged.  Balzac's  answer, 
which  is  written  from  Angouleme,  is  couched  in  the 
uncompromising  terms  of  "no  surrender,"  which  he 
generally  adopted  when  he  considered  himself 
aggrieved.  He  did  not  absolutely  refuse  to  write  for 
the  Review,  and  referred  Buloz  to  Madame  de  Balzac 
for  terms ;  but,  by  the  tone  of  his  letter,  he  negatived 
decidedly  the  idea  of  resuming  friendly  relations  with 
his  correspondent,  and  while  rather  illogically  pro- 


198  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

fessing  a  lofty  indifference  to  criticism,  remarked 
that  he  felt  the  utmost  contempt  for  those  who 
calumniated  his  books.1 

After  this  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  became 
hostile  to  Balzac;  and  when  Buloz  and  Brindeau 
bought  the  Revue  de  Paris.,  a  proceeding  which  must 
have  been  a  shock  to  him,  he  believed  that  Brindeau 
would  be  sole  director,  and  drew  up  his  agreement 
with  him  alone,  having  already  refused  to  have  busi- 
ness dealings  with  the  ever-active  Buloz.  However, 
Buloz  soon  took  the  principal  place,  and  was  so 
apologetic  for  his  past  misdeeds,  and  so  insistent  in 
promising  amendment  for  the  future,  that  Balzac, 
evidently  reflecting  that  it  would  be  distinctly  against 
his  interests  to  exclude  himself  from  two  of  the  most 
important  reviews  in  Paris,  consented  to  reconsider 
his  decision.  Therefore  the  following  agreement, 
which  is  interesting  as  an  example  of  Balzac's  usual 
conditions  when  issuing  his  novels  in  serial  form,  was 
drawn  up  between  the  two  men. 

The  Review  was  only  to  use  Balzac's  articles  for 
its  subscribers.  He  was  to  regain  absolute  rights  over 
his  books  three  months  after  their  first  publication — 
this  was  an  invariable  stipulation  in  all  Balzac's 
treaties — and  was  to  give  up  fifty  francs  out  of  the 
two  hundred  and  fifty  considered  due  to  him  for  each 
"  f euille  "  of  fifteen  pages,  to  reimburse  Buloz  for 
the  number  of  times  the  proofs  had  to  be  reprinted.2 

1  See    "  Correspondance    Inedite — Honor£    de    Balzac,"    Revue    Bleue, 
March  14th,  1903. 

a  The  account  of  the  lawsuit  between  Balzac  and  the  Revue  de  Part* 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  199 

On  these  terms  he  agreed  to  finish  "  Le  Pere  Goriot," 
as  well  as  "  Seraphita,"  and  to  write  the  "  Memoires 
d'une  Jeune  Mariee,"  with  the  understanding  that  a 
separate  contract  was  to  be  made  for  each  of  his  con- 
tributions, and  that  he  was  free  to  write  for  other 
periodicals. 

Almost  at  once  difficulties  began,  difficulties  which 
are  inevitable  when  a  genius  of  the  stamp  of  Balzac  is 
bound  by  an  unfortunate  agreement  to  provide  a 
specified  quantity  of  copy  at  stated  intervals.  Balzac 
could  not  write  to  order.  "  Seraphita,"  planned  to 
please  Madame  Hanska,  was  intended  to  be  a  master- 
piece such  as  the  world  had  never  seen.  From  Bal- 
zac's letters  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  conscien- 
tiously anxious  to  finish  it,  only,  as  he  remarks,  "I 
have  perhaps  presumed  too  much  on  my  strength  in 
thinking  that  I  could  do  so  many  things  in  so  short 
a  time." l 

When  he  made  the  unfortunate  journey  to 
Vienna,  "  Seraphita  "  still  required,  at  his  own  com- 
putation, eight  days'  and  eight  nights'  work;  but, 
settled  there,  he  turned  his  attention  at  once  to  "  Le 
Lys  dans  la  Vallee,"  which  he  had  substituted  for  the 
"Memoires  d'une  Jeune  Mariee,"  and  at  which  he 
laboured  strenuously.  The  first  number  of  this 

is  taken  from  his  "  Historique  du  Proces  auquel  a  donn6  lieu  '  Le  Lys 
dans  la  Valise,' "  which  formed  the  second  preface  of  the  edition 
of  "  Le  Lys  dans  la  Vallee  "  and  is  contained  in  vol.  xxii.  of  the  Edition 
Definitive  of  Balzac's  works ;  and  from  "  H.  de  Balzac  et  '  La  Revue 
de  Paris,'  "  which  is  the  Review's  account  of  the  case,  and  may  be  found 
in  "  Un  dernier  chapitre  de  1'Histoire  des  CEuvres  de  H.  de  Balzac,"  by 
the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 
1 "  Lettres  a  Tfitrangere." 


200  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

appeared  in  the  Revue  de  Paris}  on  November  22nd, 
1835;  but  in  the  meantime  Balzac's  uncorrected 
proofs  had  been  sold  by  Buloz  to  MM.  Bellizard  and 
Dufour,  proprietors  of  the  Revue  fitrangere  de  St. 
Petersbourg.  Therefore,  in  October,  before  the 
authorised  version  was  published  in  Paris,  there  ap- 
peared in  Russia,  under  the  title  of  "Le  Lys  dans  la 
Vallee,"  what  Balzac  indignantly  characterised  as  the 
"unformed  thoughts  which  served  me  as  sketch  and 
plan." 

This  was  double  treachery  on  the  part  of  Buloz, 
as,  by  the  treaty  already  mentioned,  he  had  bought 
the  right  to  publish  Balzac's  novels  in  the  Revue  de 
Paris  only;  and  even  if  this  stipulation  had  not  been 
made,  he  had  no  excuse  for  selling  as  Balzac's  com- 
pleted work,  what  he  knew  to  be  absolutely  unfin- 
ished. Balzac,  after  this,  refused  to  receive  him  on 
friendly  terms;  but  a  meeting  was  arranged  at  the 
house  of  Jules  Sandeau,  at  which  Balzac  and  the 
Comte  de  Belloy  met  Buloz  and  Bonnaire.  Sandeau 
and  Emile  Regnault,  who  were  friends  of  both  the 
contending  parties,  were  also  present;  and  they,  after 
this  conference,  became  for  a  time  exclusively  Balzac's 
friends,  as  he  remarks  significantly.  Balzac  owed 
the  Review  2,100  francs;  but  the  remainder  of  the 
"  Lys  "  was  ready  to  appear,  and  he  calculated  that, 
for  this,  the  payment  due  to  him  would  be  about  2,400 
francs.  He  therefore  proposed  that  the  account 
between  him  and  the  journal  should  be  closed  with 
the  end  of  the  "  Lys  " ;  and  that  as  indemnity  for  the 
injury  done  him  by  the  action  of  Buloz  in  publishing 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  201 

his  unfinished  work  in  the  Revue  fitrangere,  he  should 
be  permitted  to  send  the  novel  in  book  form  to  a  pub- 
lisher at  once,  instead  of  waiting  the  three  months 
stipulated  in  the  agreement.  MM.  Buloz  and  Bon- 
naire  refused  this  arrangement,  declaring  that  it 
would  be  extortion;  and  after  giving  them  twenty- 
four  hours  for  reflection,  Balzac  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  writing  no  longer  for  the  Revue  de  Paris, 
and  prepared  to  bring  an  action  against  the  pro- 
prietors. 

Buloz  and  Bonnaire,  however,  decided  that  it  would 
be  good  policy  for  the  first  attack  to  be  on  their  side, 
and  as  Balzac  could  not  obtain  his  proofs  from  Russia 
for  a  month  at  least,  they  sued  him  for  breach  of 
contract  in  not  writing  "  Les  Memoires  d'une  Jeune 
Mariee,"  and  claimed  10,000  francs  damages  for  his 
refusal  to  finish  the  "  Lys  dans  la  Vallee";  as  well  as 
fifty  francs  for  each  day's  delay  in  his  doing  this. 
Balzac  brought  forward  his  counter  claim,  and 
offered  the  Revue  de  Paris  the  2,100  francs  which 
had  been  advanced  to  him;  but  they  refused  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  payment  of  this  debt;  and  in  May, 
1836,  the  case  opened. 

There  was  a  side  issue  on  the  subject  of  "  Sera- 
phita,"  about  which  the  Revue  certainly  had  just 
cause  for  complaint.  In  May,  1834,  Balzac  had  been 
paid  1,700  francs  in  advance  for  this,  and  the  first 
number  appeared  on  June  1st,  the  second  not  follow- 
ing till  July  20th.  Then  Balzac  disappeared 
altogether;  and  when  he  returned  in  November,  he 
proposed  to  begin  "  Le  Pere  Goriot "  in  the  Revue,, 


202  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

and  promised  after  this  had  come  to  an  end  to  return 
to  "Seraphita";  but  it  was  not  till  the  middle  of 
August,  1835,  that  he  at  last  produced  another  num- 
ber. After  this  there  were  again  delays,  and,  accord- 
ing to  Buloz,  the  whole  of  "  Seraphita "  was  never 
offered  to  the  Revue  de  Paris.  The  truth,  however, 
appears  to  have  been  that  Buloz  at  last  completely 
lost  his  temper  at  Balzac's  continual  failures  to  fulfil 
his  engagements,  and  declared  that  "  Seraphita  "  was 
unintelligible,  and  was  losing  subscribers  to  the  Re- 
view. Balzac,  furious  at  this  insult,  paid  Buloz  300 
francs,  to  defray  the  expenses  already  incurred  for 
the  printing  of  "  Seraphita,"  and  took  back  his  work. 
Buloz's  receipt  for  this  money  is  dated  November 
21st,  1835,  two  days  before  the  appearance  of  the 
first  number  of  the  "  Lys  dans  la  Vallee  "  in  Paris, 
so  storms  were  gathering  on  all  sides.  Ten  days  after 
this,  on  December  2nd,  Werdet  brought  out  "  Sera- 
phita "  in  book  form  in  "  Le  Livre  Mystique,"  which 
contained  also  "  Louis  Lambert "  and  "  Les 
Proscrits,"  a  fact  which  proved  Balzac's  contention 
that  in  November  it  was  ready  for  publication  in  the 
Revue  de  Paris.  The  first  edition  of  "Le  Livre 
Mystique  "  was  sold  in  ten  days,  and  the  second  fol- 
lowed it  a  month  after,  which,  as  Balzac  remarked 
sardonically,  was  "  good  fortune  for  an  unintelligible 
work."  This  success  on  the  part  of  his  enemy  no 
doubt  did  not  help  to  soften  the  indignant  Buloz; 
and  he  must  have  been  further  exasperated  by  an 
article  in  the  Chronique  de  Paris,  in  which  Balzac  was 
styled  the  "  Providences  des  Revues,"  and  the  injury 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  203 

the  Revue  de  Paris  sustained  in  the  loss  of  his  col- 
laboration was  insisted  on  with  irritating  emphasis. 

The  case  was  carried  on  with  the  utmost  bitterness 
by  the  Revue  de  Paris;  Balzac's  morals,  his  honesty, 
even  his  prose,  being  attacked  with  the  greatest  vio- 
lence. Editors  and  publishers  on  all  sides  gave  their 
testimony  against  him.  He  must  have  been  amazed 
and  confounded  by  the  deep  hatred  he  had  evoked  by 
his  want  of  consideration,  which  on  several  occasions 
certainly  amounted  to  a  breach  of  good  faith.  All 
his  old  sins  found  him  out.  Amedee  Pichot,  former 
manager  of  the  Revue  de  Paris,  Forfellier  of  the 
ficho  de  la  Jeune  France,  and  Capo  de  Feuillide  of 
L'Europe  Litteraire,  raised  their  voices  against  the 
high-handed  and  rapacious  author.  The  smothered 
enmity  and  irritation  of  years  at  last  found  vent ;  and 
it  was  in  vain  that  Balzac  demonstrated,  in  the  mas- 
terly defence  of  his  conduct  written  in  one  night, 
which  formed  the  preface  to  the  "Lys  dans  la  Val- 
lee,"  that  he  had  always  remained  technically  within 
his  rights,  and  that  as  far  as  money  was  concerned 
he  owed  the  publishers  nothing.  Unwritten  conven- 
tions had  been  defied,  because  it  was  possible  to  defy 
them  with  impunity;  and  editors  who  had  gone 
through  many  black  hours  because  of  the  failure  of 
the  great  man  to  keep  his  promises,  and  who  smarted 
under  the  recollection  of  the  discourteous  refusal  of 
advances  it  had  been  an  effort  to  make,  did  not  spare 
their  arrogant  enemy  now  that  it  was  possible  to  band 
together  against  him. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  bitterest  blow  to  poor  Balzac 


204  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

was  the  fact  that  his  brother  authors,  of  whose  rights 
he  had  been  consistently  the  champion,  did  not  scruple 
to  turn  against  him.  Either  terrorised  by  the  all- 
powerful  Buloz,  or  jealous  of  one  who  insisted  on  his 
own  abilities  and  literary  supremacy  with  loud-voiced 
reiteration,  Alexandre  Dumas,  Roger  de  Beauvoir, 
Frederic  Soulie,  Eugene  Sue,  Mery,  and  Balzac's 
future  acquaintance  Leon  Gozlan,  signed  a  declara- 
tion at  the  instance  of  Buloz,  to  the  effect  that  it  was 
the  general  custom  that  articles  written  for  the  Revue 
de  Paris  should  be  published  also  in  the  Revue 
jEtrangere,  and  should  thus  avoid  Belgian  piracy. 
Jules  Janin,  whose  criticisms  on  Balzac  are  peculiarly 
venomous,  and  Loeve-Veimars,  added  riders  to  this 
statement,  expressing  the  same  views,  only  with 
greater  insistence.  To  these  assertions  Balzac  replied 
that  Buloz  had  specially  paid  George  Sand  100  francs 
a  sheet  over  the  price  arranged,  to  obtain  the  right  of 
sending  her  corrected  proofs  to  Russia;  and  that  ar- 
rangements on  a  similar  basis  had  been  made  with 
Gustave  Planche  and  M.  Fontaney.  The  fact  that 
exceptional  payments  were  made  on  these  occasions 
was  conclusive  evidence  against  simultaneous  publi- 
cation in  Paris  and  St.  Petersburg  being  the  received 
practice.  Moreover,  as  Balzac  observes  with  unan- 
swerable justice,  even  if  this  custom  did  exist,  it  would 
count  as  nothing  against  the  agreement  between  him 
and  Buloz.  "  M.  Janin  can  take  a  carriage  and  go 
himself  to  carry  his  manuscripts  to  Brussels;  M.  Sue 
can  get  into  a  boat  and  sell  his  books  in  Greece;  M. 
Loeve-Veimars  can  oblige  his  editors,  if  they  consent, 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  205 

to  make  as  many  pirated  copies  of  his  future  works 
-as  there  are  languages  in  Europe:  all  that  will  be 
quite  right,  the  Revue  is  to-day  like  a  publisher.  My 
treaties,  however,  are  made  and  written;  they  are 
before  the  eyes  of  the  judge,  they  are  not  denied,  and 
state  that  I  only  gave  my  articles  to  the  Revue  de 
Paris,  to  be  inserted  solely  in  the  Revue,  and  nowhere 
else." 

Balzac  won  the  case.  It  was  decided  by  the  Tri- 
bunal of  Judges  on  Friday,  June  3rd,  1836,  that  he 
was  not  bound  to  give  the  "Memoires  d'une  Jeune 
Mariee  "  to  the  Revue  de  Paris,  as,  when  promised, 
the  story  had  not  been  yet  written,  and  the  "Lys 
dans  la  Vallee"  had  been  substituted  for  it;  also  that 
the  2,100  francs  which  he  had  already  offered  to  Buloz 
was  all  that  he  owed  the  Review.  The  judges  left 
unsettled  the  question  as  to  whether  the  proprietors 
of  the  Revue  de  Paris  were  entitled  to  hand  over 
their  contributors'  corrected  proofs  to  the  Revue 
fitrangere;  but  decreed  that  they  were  certainly  in 
the  wrong  when  they  parted  with  unfinished  proofs. 
They  were  therefore  condemned  to  pay  the  costs  of 
the  action. 

Balzac's  was  a  costly  victory.  Except  the 
Quotidienne,,  which  stood  by  him  consistently,  not  a 
paper  was  on  his  side.  His  clumsiness  of  style,  his 
habit  of  occasionally  coining  words  to  express  his 
meaning,  and  the  coarseness  of  some  of  his  writings, 
combined  with  the  prejudice  caused  by  his  literary 
arrogance,  had  always,  to  a  certain  extent,  blinded 
literary  and  critical  France  to  his  consummate  merits 


206  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

as  a  writer.  Now,  however,  want  of  appreciation  had 
changed  to  bitter  dislike;  and  in  addition  to  abuse, 
indiscriminate  and  often  absurd,  of  his  writings,  his 
enemies  assailed  his  morals,  ridiculed  his  personal 
appearance,  and  made  fun  of  his  dress  and  surround- 
ings. He  was  not  conciliatory;  he  did  not  bow  to  the 
storm.  In  June,  1839,  appeared  the  second  part  of 
"  Illusions  Per  dues,"  which  was  entitled  "  Un  Grand 
Homme  de  Province  a  Paris,"  and  was  a  violent 
attack  on  French  journalism;  and  in  March,  1843, 
Balzac  published  the  "Monographic  de  la  Presse 
Parisienne,"  a  brilliant  piece  of  work,  but  certainty 
not  calculated  to  repair  the  breach  between  him  and 
the  publishing  world.  Nevertheless,  though  his  pride 
and  independence  prevented  him  from  trying  to  tem- 
porise, there  is  no  doubt  that  Balzac  suffered  keenly 
from  the  hostility  he  encountered  on  all  sides.  He 
writes  to  Madame  Hanska  directly  after  the  lawsuit: 
"Ah!  you  cannot  imagine  how  intense  my  life  has 
been  during  this  month!  I  was  alone  for  everything; 
harassed  by  the  journal  people  who  demanded  money 
of  me,  harassed  by  payments  to  make,  without  having 
any  money  because  I  was  making  none,  harassed  by 
the  lawsuit,  harassed  by  my  book,  the  proofs  of  which 
I  had  to  correct  day  and  night.  No,  I  am  astonished 
at  having  survived  this  struggle.  Life  is  too  heavy ;  I 
do  not  live  with  pleasure."  *  To  add  to  his  difficulties, 
Madame  Bechet  had  lately  become  Madame  Jacquil- 
lard,  and  possibly  urged  to  action  by  M.  Jacquil- 
lard,  and  alarmed  by  tales  of  Balzac's  misdemeanours, 

1 "  Lettres  £  1'fitrangfcre." 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  207 

she  became  restive,  and  demanded  the  last  two  vol- 
umes of  the  "Etudes  de  Mceurs"  in  twenty-four 
hours,  or  fifty  francs  for  each  day's  delay.  The 
affairs  of  the  Chronique  were  at  this  time  causing 
Balzac  much  anxiety,  and  he  fled  to  the  Margonnes 
at  Sache;  not  for  rest,  but  to  work  fifteen  hours  a 
day  for  "cette  odieuse  Bechet";  and  there,  in  eight 
days,  he  not  only  invented  and  composed  the  "  Illu- 
sions Perdues,"  but  also  wrote  a  third  of  it. 

However,  the  strain  had  been  too  great  even  for 
his  extraordinary  powers,  and  while  walking  in  the 
park  after  dinner  with  M.  and  Mme.  de  Margonne, 
on  the  day  that  letters  arrived  from  Paris  with  the 
news  that  liquidation  of  the  Chronique  was  neces- 
sary, he  fell  down  in  a  fit  under  one  of  the  trees. 
Completely  stunned  for  a  time,  he  could  write  noth- 
ing ;  and  thought,  in  despair,  of  giving  up  the  hopeless 
struggle,  and  of  hiding  himself  at  Wierzchownia. 
Fortunately  his  unconquerable  courage  soon  re- 
turned; he  travelled  to  Paris,  wound  up  the  affairs 
of  the  Chronique;  and  as  Werdet  had  allowed  him 
twenty  days'  liberty,  and  his  tailor  and  a  workman 
had  lent  him  money  to  pay  his  most  pressing  debts, 
he  obtained  a  letter  of  credit  from  Rothschild,  and 
started  for  Italy. 

His  ostensible  object  was  a  visit  to  Turin,  to  defend 
the  Comte  Guidoboni-Visconti  in  a  lawsuit,  as  the 
Count,  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made  at  the  Italian 
Opera,  could  not  go  himself  to  Italy.  In  reality, 
however,  in  his  exhaustion,  and  the  overstrained  state 
of  his  nerves,  he  craved  for  the  freedom  and  distrac- 


208  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

tion  which  he  could  only  find  in  travel.  Madame 
Visconti  was  an  Englishwoman — another  Etrangere 
— her  name  before  her  marriage  had  been  Frances 
Sarah  Lowell.  Later  on  she  became  one  of  Balzac's 
closest  friends,  and  Madame  Hanska  was  extremely 
jealous,  of  her  influence. 

It  is  amusing  to  discover  that  Balzac  did  not  take 
this  journey  alone.  He  was  accompanied  by  a  lady 
whom  he  describes  in  a  letter  as  "  charming,  spirit- 
uelle,  and  virtuous,"  and  who,  never  having  had  the 
chance  in  her  life  of  breathing  the  air  of  Italy,  and 
being  able  to  steal  twenty  days  from  the  fatigues  of 
housekeeping,  had  trusted  in  him  for  inviolable 
secrecy  and  "  scipionesque  "  behaviour.  "  She  knows 
whom  I  love,  and  finds  there  the  strongest  safe- 
guard." This  lady  was  Madame  Marbouty,  known 
in  literature  as  Claire  Brunne,  and  during  her  stay 
in  Italy  as  "Marcel" — a  name  taken  from  the 
devoted  servant  in  Meyerbeer's  opera  "  Les  Hugue- 
nots," which  had  just  appeared.  A  few  weeks  earlier 
she  had  refused  to  travel  in  Touraine  with  Balzac,  as 
she  considered  that  a  journey  with  him  in  France 
would  compromise  her;  but,  apparently,  in  Italy  this 
objection  did  not  apply.  She  travelled  in  man's 
clothes,  as  Balzac's  page,  and  both  he  and  she  were 
childishly  delighted  by  the  mystification  they  caused. 
Comte  Sclopis,  the  celebrated  Piedmontese  statesman, 
who  acted  as  their  cicerone  in  Turin  society,  was  much 
fascinated  by  the  charming  page.  The  liking  was  evi- 

1  See  "  L'Ecole  des  Menages  "  in  "  Autour  de  Honor6  de  Balzac,"  by 
the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  209 

dently  mutual,  as,  after  the  travellers  had  left  Italy, 
Balzac  records  that  at  Vevey,  Lausanne,  and  all 
the  places  they  visited,  Marcel  cried:  "And  no 
Sclopis!"  and  it  sounds  as  though  the  exclamation 
had  been  accompanied  by  a  sigh.  Several  times  dur- 
ing the  journey  the  lively  Amazon  was  mistaken  for 
George  Sand,  whom  she  resembled  in  face,  as  well 
as  in  the  fancy  for  donning  masculine  attire;  and  the 
mistake  caused  her  intense  satisfaction.  At  Geneva, 
haunted  to  Balzac  by  happy  memories,  the  travellers 
stayed  at  the  Hotel  de  1'Arc,  and  Balzac's  mind  was 
full  of  his  lady-love,  whose  spirit  seemed  to  him  to 
hallow  the  place.  He  saw  the  house  where  she  stayed, 
went  along  the  road  where  they  had  walked  together, 
and  was  refreshed  in  the  midst  of  his  troubles  and 
anxieties  by  the  thought  of  her. 

On  August  22nd  the  travellers  returned  to  Paris 
on  excellent  terms  with  each  other,  and  for  some  years 
after  this  journey  friendly  relations  continued.  In 
1842,  in  remembrance  of  their  adventure,  Balzac 
dedicated  "La  Grenadiere"  to  Madame  Marbouty, 
under  the  name  of  Caroline,  and  added  the  words, 
"A  la  poesie  du  voyage,  le  voyageur  reconnaissant." 
Later  on,  however,  they  quarrelled,  and  she  wrote 
"Une  Fausse  Position,"  in  which  Balzac  is  repre- 
sented in  a  decidedly  unflattering  light ;  and  after  this 
he  naturally  withdrew  the  dedication  in  "La  Grena- 
diere." 

On  his  return  from  this  amusing  trip  a  terrible 
trouble  awaited  Balzac.  Among  the  letters  heaped 
together  upon  his  writing-table  was  one  from  Alex- 


210  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

andre  de  Berny,  announcing  abruptly  the  death  of 
Madame  de  Berny,  which  had  taken  place  on  July 
27th.  Balzac  was  utterly  crushed  by  this  blow.  He 
had  not  seen  Madame  de  Berny  for  some  time,  as 
since  the  death  of  her  favourite  son  she  had  shut 
herself  up  completely,  pretending  to  Balzac  that  she 
was  not  very  ill,  but  saying  laughingly  that  she  only 
wanted  to  see  him  when  she  was  beautiful  and  in 
good  health.  Now  she  was  dead,  and  the  news  came 
without  preparation  in  the  midst  of  his  other  troubles. 
She  was  half  his  life,  he  cried  in  despair ;  and  writing 
to  Madame  Hanska  he  said  that  his  sorrow  had  almost 
killed  him.  In  the  midst  of  this  overwhelming  grief 
other  worries  added  their  quota  to  the  weight  op- 
pressing Balzac.  Henri  de  Balzac  gave  his  family 
continual  trouble,  while  Laurence's  husband,  M.  de 
Montzaigle,  refused  to  support  his  children;  in  fact, 
the  only  faint  relief  to  the  darkness  surrounding  the 
Balzac  family  at  this  time  was  M.  Surville's  hope- 
fulness about  the  Loire  Canal  scheme. 

In  addition  to  all  these  misfortunes,  Balzac  had 
to  submit  to  the  annoyance  of  several  days'  impris- 
onment in  the  Hotel  des  Haricots,  for  his  refusal 
to  serve  in  the  Garde  Nationale,  a  duty  which  was, 
he  said,  the  nightmare  of  his  life.  The  place  of 
detention  was  not  luxurious.  There  was  no  fire,  and 
he  was  in  the  same  hall  for  a  time  with  a  number  of 
workmen,  who  made  a  terrible  noise.  Fortunately, 
he  was  soon  moved  to  a  private  room,  where  he  was 
warm  and  could  work  in  peace.  After  this,  in  terri- 
ble pecuniary  difficulties,  and  feeling  acutely  the  loss 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  211 

of  the  woman  who  had  been  an  angel  to  him  in  his 
former  troubles,  he  left  the  Rue  Cassini  and  fled 
from  Paris,  to  avoid  further  detention  by  the  civic 
authorities.  He  took  refuge  at  Chaillot,  and  under 
the  name  of  Madame  Veuve  Durand  hid  at  No.  13 
Rue  des  Batailles.  Here  he  lodged  for  a  time  in  a 
garret  formerly  occupied  by  Jules  Sandeau,  from 
the  window  of  which  there  was  a  magnificent  view  of 
Paris,  from  the  Ecole  Militaire  to  the  barrier  of  the 
Trone,  and  from  the  Pantheon  to  L'fitoile.  From 
time  to  time  Balzac  would  pause  in  his  work  to  gaze 
on  the  ocean  of  houses  below;  but  he  never  went  out, 
for  he  was  pursued  by  his  creditors. 

It  is  curiously  characteristic  of  his  love  of  luxury 
that,  destitute  as  he  was,  he  had  no  intention  of  occu- 
pying this  modest  garret  for  long,  but  that  a  drawing- 
room  on  the  second  floor,  which  would  cost  700  francs, 
was  already  in  preparation  for  his  use.  It  was  to  No. 
13  Rue  des  Batailles  that  Simile  de  Girardin,  who  had 
just  started  La  Presse,  wrote  asking  him  to  contribute 
to  its  pages ;  and, '  in  consequence,  Balzac  produced 
"  La  Vieille  Fille,"  which  began  to  appear  on  October 
23rd,  and  shocked  the  subscribers  very  much.  Here, 
too,  at  a  most  inopportune  moment,  Madame  Hanska 
addressed  to  him  a  depressed  and  mournful  letter, 
of  which  he  complains  bitterly.  She  was  at  this  time 
extremely  jealous  of  Madame  Visconti,  from  whom 
she  suspected  that  Madame  de  Mortsauf ,  in  the  "  Lys 
dans  la  Vallee,"  had  been  drawn;  and  Balzac  says 
he  supposes  that  he  must  give  up  the  Italian  opera, 
the  only  pleasure  he  has,  because  a  charming  and 


212  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

graceful  woman  occupies  the  same  box  with  him. 
In  October  he  paid  a  sad  little  visit  to  La  Boulon- 
niere,  which  must  have  brought  before  him  keenly 
the  loss  he  had  sustained;  and  later  he  spent  a  few 
days  at  Sache,  where  he  was  ill  for  a  day  or  two  as 
a  result  of  mental  worry  and  overwork. 

Another  blow  was  to  fall  on  Balzac  before  the 
disastrous  year  1836  came  to  a  close.  The  "Lys 
dans  la  Vallee,"  on  which  Werdet  had  pinned  all  his 
hopes,  had  sold  very  badly,  possibly  owing  to  the 
hostility  of  the  newspapers.  As  a  climax  to  all  Bal- 
zac's miseries,  in  October  Werdet  failed.  This  was 
doubty  serious,  as  Balzac  had  signed  several  bills  of 
exchange  for  his  publisher,  and  was  therefore  liable 
for  a  sum  of  13,000  francs.  Werdet  wrote  a  book 
abusing  Balzac  as  the  cause  of  his  failure;  and  Balzac, 
on  his  side,  was  certainly  unsympathetic  about  the 
misfortunes  of  a  man  whose  interests,  after  all,  were 
bound  up  with  his  own,  and  whom  he  politely  called 
"  childish,  bird-witted,  and  obstinate  as  an  ass."  The 
truth  seems  to  have  been  that,  as  Werdet  aspired  to 
be  Balzac's  sole  publisher,  he  was  obliged  to  buy  up 
all  the  copies  of  Balzac's  books  which  were  already 
in  the  hands  of  publishers,  and  not  having  capital  for 
this,  he  obtained  money  by  credit,  and  settled  to  pay 
by  bills  at  long  date.  He  also  brought  before  the 
public  a  certain  number  of  books  by  writers  sympa- 
thetic to  his  client,  and  as  these  books  were  usually 
by  young  and  unknown  authors,  their  printing  did 
not  cover  expenses.  As  a  consequence  of  these  im- 
prudent ventures  he  was  unable  to  meet  his  bills  on 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  213 

maturity;  and  Balzac,  being  liable  for  some  of  them, 
was  naturally  furious,  as  he  had  to  be  in  hiding  from 
the  creditors,  while  Werdet,  as  he  remarked  bitterly, 
was  walking  comfortably  about  Paris.  Werdet  was 
young  and  enthusiastic,  and  no  doubt  his  imagination 
was  fired  by  Balzac's  pictures  of  the  glorious  time  in 
the  future,  when  the  great  \vriter  and  his  publisher 
should  have  both  made  their  fortunes,  and  their  car- 
riages should  pass  each  other  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne. 
There  is  no  reason,  however,  to  think  that  Balzac 
wilfully  misrepresented  matters,  as  Werdet  insinu- 
ates. He  was  essentially  good-hearted,  as  every  one 
who  knew  him  testifies;  but  his  extraordinary  opti- 
mism and  power  of  self-deception,  combined  with 
the  charm  of  his  personality  and  the  overmastering 
influence  he  exercised,  made  him  a  most  dangerous 
man  to  be  connected  with  in  business;  and  Werdet, 
like  many  another,  suffered  from  his  alliance  with 
the  improvident  man  of  genius. 

Balzac  also  at  this  time  suffered  severely;  but  he 
had  now  completely  recovered  his  energy.  In  his 
efforts  to  clear  himself  he  worked  thirty  nights  with- 
out going  to  bed,  sending  contributions  to  the  Chron- 
ique,  the  Presse,  the  Revue  Musicale,  and  the  Diction- 
naire  de  la  Conversation,  composing  the  "Perle 
Brisee,"  "La  VieiUe  Fille,"  and  "Le  Secret  des 
Ruggieri,"  besides  finishing  the  last  volumes  of  the 
"  Etudes  de  Moeurs  "  and  bringing  out  new  editions 
of  several  of  his  books.  As  the  result  of  his  labours, 
he  calculated,  with  his  usual  cheerfulness,  that  if  he 
worked  day  and  night  for  six  months,  and  after  that 


214  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

ten  hours  a  day  for  two  years,  he  would  have  paid 
off  his  debts  and  would  have  a  little  money  in  hand. 
In  the  end,  he  bound  himself  for  fifteen  years  to  an 
association  formed  by  a  speculator  named  Bohain: 
50,000  francs  being  given  him  at  once  to  pay  off  his 
most  pressing  debts,  while,  by  the  terms  of  the  agree- 
ment, he  provided  a  stipulated  number  of  volumes 
every  year,  and  was  given  1,500  francs  a  month  for 
the  first  year,  3,000  francs  a  month  for  the  second 
year,  4,000  francs  for  the  third,  and  so  on.  Besides 
this,  he  was  to  receive  half  the  profits  of  each  book 
after  the  publisher's  expenses  had  been  defrayed.  As 
he  was  extremely  pleased  with  this  arrangement, 
which  at  any  rate  freed  him  from  his  immediate 
embarrassments,  a  faint  ray  of  sunlight  shone  for 
him  on  the  close  of  the  sad  year  of  1836. 


CHAPTER  XI 

1836—1840 


Drawing-room  in  Rue  des   Batailles — The    "  Cheval    Rouge  " — 

Second  visit  to  Italy — Buys  Les  Jardies  at  Sevres — Travels 

to  Sardinia  to  obtain   silver  from    worked-out  mines — 

Disappointment — Goes    on    to     Italy — Takes     up 

his    abode    in    Les    Jardies — '*  L'Ecole     des 

Menages" — He     Defends    Peytel 

IT  is  curious  to  find  that  during  the  events  recorded 
in  the  last  chapter,  when,  to  put  the  matter  mildly, 
Balzac's  spare  time  was  limited,  he  yet  managed  to 
conduct  a  sentimental  correspondence  with  "  Louise," 
a  lady  he  never  met  and  whose  name  he  did  not  know. 
Apparently,  in  the  midst  of  his  troubles,  he  was  seized 
by  an  overmastering  desire  to  pour  out  his  feelings 
in  writing  to  some  kindred  soul.  Madame  Hanska 
was  far  away,  and  could  not  answer  promptly; 
besides,  though  passionately  loved,  she  was  not 
always  sympathetic,  the  solid  quality  of  her  mind 
not  responding  readily  to  the  quickness  and  delicacy 
of  Balzac's  emotions.  Louise,  to  whom  in  1844  he  ded- 
icated "Facino  Cane,"  was  close  at  hand;  she  was 
evidently  mournful,  sentimental,  and  admiring;  she 
sent  him  flowers  when  he  was  in  prison,  and  at  another 

215 


216  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

time  a  sepia  drawing.  Besides,  her  shadowy  figure 
was  decked  for  him  with  the  fascination  of  the 
unknown,  and  there  was  excitement  in  the  wonder 
whether  the  veil  enveloping  her  would  ever  be  lifted, 
and,  like  Madame  Hanska,  she  emerge  a  divin- 
ity of  flesh  and  blood.  However,  in  spite  of  Bal- 
zac's entreaties  she  refused  to  reveal  her  identity; 
and  after  about  a  year's  correspondence,  during 
which  time  Louise  suffered  from  a  great  misfortune, 
the  nature  of  which  she  kept  secret,  the  letters  between 
them  ceased  altogether. 

Balzac  had  now  left  his  garret,  and  was  established 
in  the  drawing-room  on  the  second  floor  of  13  Rue 
des  Batailles,  which  is  exactly  described  in  "  La  Fille 
aux  Yeux  d'Or."  The  room  was  very  luxurious,  and 
the  details  had  been  thought  out  with  much  care.1 
One  end  of  it  had  square  corners,  the  other  end  was 
rounded,  and  the  corners  cut  off  to  form  the  semi- 
circle were  connected  by  a  narrow  dark  passage,  and 
contained — one  a  camp  bedstead,  and  the  other  a 
writing-table.  A  secret  door  led  to  this  hiding-place, 
and  here  Balzac  took  refuge  when  pursued  by 
emissaries  from  the  Garde  Nationale,  creditors,  or 
enraged  editors.  The  scheme  of  colour  in  the  room 
was  wrhite  and  flame-colour  shading  to  the  deepest 
pink,  relieved  by  arabesques  of  black.  A  huge  divan, 
fifty  feet  long  and  as  broad  as  a  mattress,  ran  round 
the  horseshoe.  This,  like  the  rest  of  the  furniture, 
was  covered  in  white  cashmere  decked  with  flame- 

1  See     "  Honore     de     Balzac "     in     "  Portraits     Contemporains,"     by 
Theophile  Gautier. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  217 

coloured  and  black  bows,  and  the  back  of  it  was  higher 
than  the  numerous  cushions  by  which  it  was  adorned. 
Above  it  the  walls  were  hung  with  pink  Indian  muslin 
over  red  material,  the  flame-colour  and  black  ara- 
besques being  repeated.  The  curtains  were  pink, 
the  mantelpiece  clock  and  candlesticks  white  marble 
and  gold,  the  carpet  and  portieres  of  rich  Oriental 
design,  and  the  chandelier  and  candelabra  to  light 
the  divan  of  silver  gilt.  About  the  room  were  elegant 
baskets  containing  white  and  red  flowers,  and  in  the 
place  of  honour  on  the  table  in  the  middle  was  M.  de 
Hanski's  magnificent  gold  and  malachite  inkstand. 
Balzac  showed  the  glories  of  this  splendid  apartment 
with  infantile  pride  and  delight  to  visitors;  and  here, 
reckless  of  his  pecuniary  embarrassments,  he  gave 
a  grand  dinner  to  Theophile  Gautier,  the  Marquis 
de  Belloy,  and  Boulanger,  and  entertained  them  in 
the  evening  with  good  stories  "  a  la  Rabelais." 

About  this  time  Balzac  started  the  association  he 
called  the  "  Cheval  Rouge,"  which  was  intended  to 
be  a  mutual  help  society  among  a  number  of  friends, 
who  were  to  push  and  praise  each  other's  composi- 
tions, and  to  rise  as  one  man  against  any  one  who 
dared  to  attack  a  member  of  the  alliance.  The  idea 
was  a  good  one;  but  there  was  a  comic  side  to  it  as 
conducted  by  Balzac,  and  the  "  Cheval  Rouge,"  after 
five  or  six  meetings,  ceased  to  exist  without  having 
seriously  justified  its  existence.  Theophile  Gautier, 
Jules  Sandeau,  and  Leon  Gozlan  were  among  the 
members;  and  so  dazzling  were  the  pictures  drawn 
by  Balzac  of  the  powers  and  scope  of  the  society, 


218  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

that  each  one  saw  himself  in  imagination  with  a  seat 
in  the  French  Academy,  and  in  succession  peer  of 
France,  minister,  and  millionaire.  It  was  sad  that 
with  these  lofty  aims  the  association  should  have  been 
dissolved  because  most  of  its  members  were  not  able 
to  pay  their  fifteen  francs  subscription.  The  first 
meeting  was  held  at  the  Cheval  Rouge,  a  very  modest 
restaurant  on  the  "  Quai  de  1'Entrepot,"  from  which 
the  society  took  its  name.  The  members  were  sum- 
moned by  a  card  with  a  little  red  horse  on  it,  and 
under  this  the  words  "  Stable  such  a  day,  such  a 
place."  Everything  was  carried  on  with  the  greatest 
secrecy  and  mystery,  and  the  arrangements,  which 
were  conducted  by  Balzac  with  much  seriousness, 
afforded  him  intense  pleasure.  The  "  Cheval  Rouge  " 
might  have  been  a  dangerous  political  society  from 
the  precautions  he  took.  In  order  to  avoid  suspicion 
one  member  was  always  to  greet  another  member 
coldly  in  society;  and  Balzac  would  pretend  to  meet 
Gautier  with  much  ceremony  for  the  first  time  in  a 
drawing-room,  and  then  by  delighted  winks  and 
grimaces  would  point  out  to  him  how  well  he  was 
acting. 

In  March,  1837,  Balzac  paid  his  second  visit  to 
Italy;  travelling  through  a  part  of  Switzerland, 
stopping  at  Milan,  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Florence,  and 
returning  to  Paris  on  May  3rd.  His  health  was,  he 
said,  detestable  at  this  time,  and  he  required  rest  and 
change.  He  went  alone,  as  Gautier,  who  had  in- 
tended to  be  his  companion,  was  kept  in  Paris  by  the 
necessity  of  writing  criticisms  on  the  pictures  in  the 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  219 

Salon.  One  object  of  Balzac's  journey  was  to  visit 
Florence  to  see  Bartolini's  bust  of  Madame  Hanska, 
of  which  he  evidently  approved,  as  he  asked  M.  de 
Hanski's  permission  to  have  a  small  copy  made  of 
it  which  he  could  always  keep  on  his  writing-table; 
but  this  was  never  sent  to  him.  He  was  delighted 
with  Venice,  which  he  now  saw  for  the  first  time; 
and  in  Florence  was  specially  charmed  with  the  pic- 
tures at  the  Pitti,  though  he  found  travelling  by 
himself  rather  dull,  and  decided  that  his  next  journey 
should  be  undertaken  at  a  time  when  Gautier  could 
accompany  him.  At  Genoa  he  met  a  wily  merchant, 
to  whom  he  unfortunately  confided  the  last  brilliant 
scheme  for  making  his  fortune  which  was  floating 
through  his  active  brain. 

He  had  read  in  Tacitus  that  the  Romans  found 
silver  in  Sardinia ;  and  it  occurred  to  him  that,  as  the 
ancients  were  not  learned  in  extracting  metals,  silver 
might  still  be  found  among  the  lead  which  was  turned 
out  of  the  mines  as  refuse.  The  Genoese  merchant 
appeared  much  interested  in  Balzac's  conversation, 
and  remarked  that,  owing  to  the  carelessness  of  the 
Sardinians,  whole  mountains  of  dross,  containing 
lead,  and  most  probably  silver,  were  left  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  mines.  He  was  most  obliging:  he  promised 
to  send  Balzac  a  specimen  of  the  dross  that  it  might 
be  submitted  to  Parisian  experts,  and  if  the  result 
were  satisfactory,  Balzac  and  he  were  to  ask  for  a 
permit  from  the  Government  at  Turin,  and  would 
work  the  mines  together.  When  this  had  been 
arranged  Balzac  departed  in  high  spirits,  determined 


220  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

to  keep  his  secret  carefully,  and  feeling  that  at  last 
he  was  on  the  high  road  to  fortune.  On  the  way  back 
he  was  detained  in  quarantine  for  some  time,  and 
partly  from  economy,  partly  because  he  wanted  to 
see  Neufchatel,  where  he  had  first  met  Madame 
Hanska,  he  travelled  back  by  Milan  and  the  Splugen, 
and  reached  Paris  in  perfect  health. 

Here  fresh  misfortunes  awaited  him,  as  Werdet 
was  bankrupt,  and,  as  a  consequence,  his  creditors 
pursued  Balzac.  Never  in  future  would  he  be 
answerable  or  sign  his  name  for  any  one,  he  cried  in 
despair.  He  had  forestalled  the  money  allowed  him 
by  his  treaty  with  Bohain,  was  working  day  and 
night,  and  in  a  few  days  would  retire  into  an  un- 
known garret,  and  live  as  he  had  done  in  the  Rue 
Lesdiguieres.  Nevertheless,  in  his  anxiety  to  see 
Madame  Hanska,  he  had  begun  to  think  out  econom- 
ical ways  of  getting  to  Ukraine.  He  was  not  very 
well  at  this  time,  and  in  August  he  went  to  Sache,  to 
see  whether  his  native  air  would  revive  him. 

His  next  action  would  be  astonishing  to  any  one 
unacquainted  with  his  extraordinary  recklessness. 
In  October,  1837,  he  gave  up  the  rooms  at  the  Rue 
Cassini,  which  he  had  kept  durag  the  time  of  his 
residence  at  Passy;  and  in  order  to  escape  what  he 
termed  "an  atrocious  law"  on  the  subject  of  his 
abhorrence,  the  Garde  Nationale,  he  bought  a  piece 
of  land  in  the  Ville  d'Avray,  at  Sevres,  on  which  he 
began  to  build  a  house,  planned  by  himself.  This 
soon  acquired  celebrity  as  "Les  Jardies,"  and  gave 
much  amusement  to  the  Parisians,  who  were  never 


BALZAC  LETTER  SHOWING  HIS  SIGNATURE 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  221 

tired  of  inventing  stories  about  Balzac's  villa.  In 
March,  1838,  before  he  settled  in  his  new  abode,  he 
started  on  a  journey  to  Sardinia  to  investigate  mat- 
ters himself  about  the  mines.  It  was  a  year  since  the 
Genoese  merchant  had  promised  to  send  him  a  speci- 
men of  the  dross,  and  as  nothing  had  yet  arrived,  he 
was  beginning  to  feel  anxious. 

The  object  of  his  journey  was  kept  absolutely 
secret ;  owing  to  the  dangers  of  the  post  even  Madame 
Hanska  being  told  only  that  "  it  is  neither  a  marriage, 
nor  anything  adventurous,  foolish,  frivolous,  or  im- 
prudent. It  is  a  serious  and  scientific  affair,  about 
which  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  tell  you  a  word,  be- 
cause I  am  bound  to  the  most  absolute  secrecy."1 
He  had  to  borrow  from  his  mother  and  from  a  cousin, 
and  to  pawn  his  jewellery  to  obtain  money  for  his 
expedition.  On  the  way  he  stayed  with  the  Carrauds 
at  Frapesle,  where  he  was  ill  for  a  few  days;  and  he 
went  from  there  to  pay  his  "  comrade  "  George  Sand 
a  three  days'  visit  at  Nohant.  He  found  her  in  man's 
attire,  smoking  a  "houka,"  very  sad,  and  working 
enormously;  and  he  and  she  had  long  talks,  lasting 
from  five  in  the  evening  till  five  in  the  morning,  and 
ranging  over  manners,  morals,  love  affairs,  and 
literature.  She  approved  of  "La  Premiere  Demoi- 
selle," a  play  planned  in  February,  1837,  which  Ma- 
dame Hanska  had  discouraged  because  she  did  not  like 
the  plot ;  and  Balzac  determined  to  work  at  it  seriously 
now  that  "Cesar  Birotteau"  was  finished.  This 
brilliant  picture  of  the  Parisian  bourgeoisie  had  been 
published  in  December,  1837,  under  the  title  of 

ll'Lettres  a  1'fitrangfere." 


222  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

"  Histoire  de  la  Grandeur  et  de  la  Decadence  de 
Cesar  Birotteau."  Since  then,  Balzac  hai  produced 
nothing  new  in  book  form,  though  he  was  writing 
"  La  Maison  de  Nucingen  "  for  La  Presss,,  and  was 
working  at  "  Massimilla  Doni,"  and  at  the  second 
part  of  "  Illusions  Perdues."  He  was  also  preparing 
to  bring  out  a  "Balzac  Illustre,"  which  was  to  be  a 
complete  edition  of  his  works  with  pictures;  but  of 
this  only  one  volume,  "La  Peau  de  Chagrin,"  was 
ever  published. 

From  Nohant  he  went  to  Marseilles,  and  from 
there  he  sent  letters  both  to  his  mother  and  to  Ma- 
dame Carraud,  written  in  a  very  different  frame  of 
mind  from  his  usual  one  when  he  embarked  on  a 
scheme  for  making  his  fortune.  "Now  that  I  am 
almost  at  my  destination,  I  begin  to  have  a  thousand 
doubts;  anyhow,  one  cannot  risk  less  to  gain  more. 
I  do  not  fear  the  journey,  but  what  a  return  if  I 
fail!"1 

He  crossed  from  Marseilles  to  Ajaccio,  and  suf- 
fered much  on  the  voyage,  though  he  travelled  on 
the  mail  steamer  from  Toulon,  and  spent  a  great  deal 
of  money  by  doing  this.  However,  he  was  really 
trying  to  be  economical,  as  on  his  way  to  Marseilles 
he  had  lived  on  ten  sous'  worth  of  milk  a  day,  and 
when  he  reached  there  he  put  up  at  an  hotel  where 
his  room  cost  fifteen  sous  and  his  dinner  thirty. 

The  scenery  of  Corsica  was,  he  said,  magnificent; 
but  he  did  not  much  appreciate  Ajaccio,  where  he 
had  to  wait  some  time  for  a  boat  to  take  him  to 
Sardinia,  and  said  the  civilisation  was  as  primitive 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  394. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  223 

as  that  of  Greenland.  His  only  consolation  about 
the  delay  was  in  the  idea  that  he  would  have  time 
to  go  on  with  "  La  Premiere  Demoiselle,"  for  which 
George  Sand  predicted  a  great  success,  while  his 
sister  told  him  it  was  superb.  Therefore,  as  he  had 
written  the  " Physiologic  du  Mariage "  and  "La  Peau 
de  Chagrin  "  against  the  advice  of  Madame  de  Bernyr 
he  determined  to  continue  his  play  in  spite  of  Madame 
Hanska's  disapproval.  His  five  days'  voyage  to 
Sardinia  was  most  uncomfortable,  as  he  travelled  in 
a  rowing-boat  belonging  to  French  coral  fishers. 
The  food  consisted  of  execrable  soup,  made  from 
the  fish  caught  by  the  fishermen  during  the  voyage; 
and  Balzac  had  to  sleep  on  the  bridge,  where  he  was 
devoured  by  insects.  To  add  to  his  misfortunes,  the 
boat  was  kept  for  five  days  in  quarantine  in  view  of 
the  port,  and  the  inhabitants  refused  to  give  the  occu- 
pants any  food,  or  to  allow  them  in  a  bad  storm  to 
attach  their  cable  to  the  port-rings.  This  they  man- 
aged at  last  to  do,  in  spite  of  the  objections  of  the 
governor,  who,  determined  to  assert  his  authority, 
decreed  that  the  cable  should  be  taken  off  as  soon  as 
the  sea  became  calm:  a  regulation  which,  as  Balzac 
said,  was  absurd,  because  either  the  people  would  by 
that  time  have  caught  the  cholera,  or  they  would  not 
catch  it  at  all. 

When  Balzac  at  last  landed,  he  felt  as  though  he 
were  in  Central  Africa  or  Polynesia,  as  the  inhabi- 
tants wore  no  clothes,  and  were  bronzed  like  Ethiop- 
ians. He  was  much  horrified  at  their  misery  and 
savage  condition.  Their  dwellings  he  describes  as 


224  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

dens  without  chimneys,  and  their  food  in  many  parts 
consisted  of  a  horrible  bread  made  of  acorns  ground, 
and  mixed  with  clay. 

No  doubt  he  was  not  disposed  to  take  a  particu- 
larly favourable  view  of  Sardinia,  as  it  was  to  him  the 
scene  of  a  bitter  disappointment.  He  had  been  right 
in  his  calculations  about  the  value  of  the  refuse  from 
the  mines:  the  dross  contained  10  per  cent,  of  lead, 
and  the  lead  10  per  cent,  of  silver.  But  a  Marseilles 
company  as  well  as  his  Genoese  friend  had  been  be- 
forehand with  him,  had  obtained  from  the  Govern- 
ment at  Turin  the  right  to  work  the  mines,  and  were 
already  in  possession.  Balzac's  monetary  sacrifices, 
and  the  hardships  he  had  suffered  on  his  journey, 
were  in  vain;  he  must  return  to  sleepless  nights  of 
work,  and  must  redouble  his  efforts  in  the  endeavour 
to  pay  back  the  money  he  had  borrowed  for  his 
expedition.  He  showed  his  usual  pluck  at  this  junc- 
ture; there  are  no  complaints  in  his  letters,  and  with 
singular  forbearance  he  does  not  even  abuse  the  faith- 
less Genoese  merchant.  His  expedition  was  useful 
to  others,  if  not  to  himself;  as  he  travelled  on  to  Italy, 
and  made  a  long  stay  at  Milan  in  order  to  work  for 
the  interests  of  the  Viscontis,  whose  property,  without 
his  efforts,  would  have  been  sequestrated  owing  to 
political  complications.  It  is  significant  that  Madame 
Hanska,  who  was  always  suspicious  about  Madame 
Visconti,  was  not  informed  of  this  reason  for  his 
long  sojourn  at  Milan,  which  we  hear  of  from  a 
letter  to  his  sister.  Balzac  was  terribly  low-spirited  at 
this  time ;  his  whole  life  semed  to  have  been  a  failure, 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  225 

and  he  was  approaching  the  age  of  forty,  the  date 
at  which  he  had  always  determined  to  give  up  his 
aspirations,  to  fight  no  more,  and  to  join  the  great 
company  of  the  resigned.  He  was  tired  out,  and 
very  homesick.  He  admired  the  Cathedral,  the 
churches,  the  pictures;  but  he  was  weary  of  Italy, 
and  longed  for  France  with  its  grey  skies  and  cold 
winds.  Behind  this  longing,  and  possibly  the  origin 
of  it,  was  a  passionate  desire  in  his  disappointment 
and  disgust  of  life  to  be  again  near  his  "  polar  star." 

It  was  a  comfort  when,  the  affairs  of  the  Viscontis 
being  at  last  satisfactorily  arranged,  he  was  able  on 
June  6th  to  start  on  his  journey  back  to  France.  He 
travelled  by  the  Mont  Cenis,  and  was  nearly  blinded 
by  clouds  of  fine  dust,  so  that  he  was  unable  to  write 
for  some  days. 

When  he  reached  Paris  he  only  remained  for  a 
short  time  in  the  Rue  des  Batailles,  as  in  July,  1838, 
in  defiance  of  his  doctor's  warnings  about  damp 
walls,  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Les  Jardies,  having 
at  the  same  time  a  pied-a-terre  in  Paris  at  the  house 
of  Buisson,  his  tailor,  108  Rue  Richelieu.  Les  Jar- 
dies  was  a  quaint  abode.  Built  on  a  slippery  hill,  it 
overlooked  the  Ville  d'Avray  with  smoky  Paris  below, 
and  in  the  distance  there  was  a  view  of  the  plain  of 
Montrouge  and  the  road  to  Orleans,  which  led  also 
to  Balzac's  beloved  Tours.  The  principal  staircase 
was  outside,  because  Balzac,  in  designing  the  house, 
found  that  a  staircase  seriously  interfered  with  the 
symmetry  of  the  rooms.  Therefore  he  placed  it  in 
an  inconspicuous  position  in  a  special  construction 


226  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

at  the  back,  and  owing  to  the  extremely  steep  slope 
the  visitor  entered  by  the  top  floor,  and  made  his  way 
down  instead  of  up.  There  were  three  stories,  the  low- 
est containing  the  drawing-room  and  dining-room, 
and  second  a  bedroom  and  dressing-room,  and  the 
third  Balzac's  study.  All  round  the  house,  which  was 
painted  to  represent  brick,  was  a  verandah  supported 
by  black  columns,  and  the  cage  in  the  rear  which  held 
the  staircase  was  painted  red.  About  sixty  feet  behind 
this  curious  habitation  was  the  real  living-place  of 
Les  Jardies,  where  Balzac  kept  his  servants.  Part  of 
this  he  let  at  a  later  date  to  the  Viscontis,  and  they  had 
charge  of  his  rich  library,  and  of  the  beautiful  furni- 
ture brought  from  the  Rue  des  Batailles,  which  might, 
if  kept  by  its  owner,  have  been  seized  by  his  creditors. 
The  interior  of  this  charming  abode  was  intended 
to  be  adorned  with  the  utmost  magnificence,  but  it 
was  never  finished;  there  were  no  curtains,  and  no 
furniture  to  speak  of.  Years  after,  descriptions  such 
as  the  following  were  still  scrawled  in  charcoal  on 
the  bare  stucco:  "Here  is  a  veneering  of  Parian 
marble";  "Here  is  a  mantlepiece  in  cipolin  marble"; 
"  Here  is  a  ceiling  painted  by  Eugene  Delacroix." 
Balzac  laughed  himself  at  these  imaginary  decora- 
tions, and  was  much  delighted  when  Leon  Gozlan 
wrote  in  huge  letters  in  his  study,  which  was  as  bare 
as  the  other  rooms,  "Here  is  a  priceless  picture  by 
Raphael."  However,  there  was  one  thing  at  Les  Jar- 
dies  of  which  he  was  really  proud;  and  that  was  his 
system  of  bell-ringing,  which  he  considered  a  chef- 
d'oeuvre.  Instead  of  having  hanging  wires  with 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  227 

"big,  stupid,  indiscreet  bells "  at  the  end  of  them,  his 
bells  were  hidden  ingeniously  in  an  angle  of  the  wall ; 
and  his  pride  in  this  brilliant  invention  made  him 
forget  any  possible  deficiencies  in  the  decorations 
and  appointments  of  the  mansion. 

The  great  feature,  however,  at  Les  Jardies,  and 
the  torment,  the  delight,  and  the  despair  of  Balzac's 
life,  was  the  piece  of  land  round  the  house  where  the 
garden  ought  to  have  been.  He  had  beautiful  plans 
about  this  when  first  he  arrived  at  Les  Jardies.  The 
soil  was  then  absolutely  bare;  but,  as  he  remarked,  it 
was  possible  to  buy  everything  in  Paris,  and  as  money 
was,  of  course,  no  object  with  him,  he  intended  in  the 
autumn  to  have  good-sized  magolias,  limes,  poplars, 
and  willows  transported  there,  and  to  make  a  little 
Eden  of  sweet  scents,  covered  with  plants  and  bushes. 
No  doubt,  in  imagination  he  already  saw  his  beautiful 
flowers,  and  wandered  in  this  delightful  and  well- 
kept  garden,  which,  as  nothing  with  Balzac  could 
possibly  be  ordinary,  was  to  be  "suprising."  The 
reality,  however,  was  sadly  different  from  his  expec- 
tations. In  vain,  by  his  orders  asphalt  paths  were 
made  in  all  directions,  and  landscape  gardeners 
worked  for  months,  trying  with  stones  cunningly 
inserted  to  prop  up  the  steep,  slippery  slope,  and  to 
form  little  terraces  on  which  something  might  have  a 
chance  of  growing.  With  the  slightest  shower,  down 
tumbled  these  plateaus ;  and  the  work  of  building  had 
to  begin  again.  It  was  amusing,  Leon  Gozlan  tells 
us,  to  see  the  amazement  of  the  actor  Frederick 
Lemaitre  when  he  came  to  see  Balzac;  and  found 


228  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

himself  expected  to  walk  up  the  side  of  a  hill,  with 
the  ground  at  each  step  slipping  under  his  feet.  To 
support  himself  he  stuck  stones  behind  his  heels,  and 
Balzac  meanwhile  walked  by  his  side  with  the  calm- 
ness of  a  proprietor  who  is  thoroughly  used  to  the 
vagaries  of  his  own  territory,  and  scorns  foreign 
assistance. 

Occasionally,  however,  even  Balzac  came  to  the  end 
of  his  equanimity.  The  wall  which  separated  his 
property  from  that  of  the  neighbour  below  him  was 
a  continual  anxiety.  In  spite  of  all  possible  precau- 
tions it  tumbled  down  constantly,  and  scattered 
stones  and  mortar  over  the  ground  on  each  side  of  it. 
After  this  had  happened  two  or  three  times,  and 
Balzac,  while  investigating  the  extent  of  the  damage 
on  one  of  these  occasions,  had  fallen  and  injured  his 
leg,  so  that  he  was  in  bed  for  forty  days,  a  meeting 
of  experts  was  held,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  angle 
at  which  the  wall  had  been  built  was  not  sufficiently 
acute.  The  error  was  rectified,  and  there  were  general 
rejoicings  and  congratulations;  but  the  next  day  it 
rained,  and  in  the  evening  news  was  brought  to  Balzac 
that  the  whole  structure  had  toppled  over,  and  was 
reposing  in  ruins  in  his  neighbour's  garden.  This  was 
serious,  as  the  neighbour  promptly  sent  in  an  enor- 
mous bill  for  damages  done  to  his  carrots  and  tur- 
nips ;  and  it  was  probably  on  this  occasion  that  Balzac 
wrote  in  March,  1839,  a  despairing  letter  to  Madame 
Carraud,  containing  the  words:  "To  you,  sister  of 
my  soul,  I  can  confide  my  greatest  secrets ;  I  am  now 
in  the  midst  of  terrible  misery.  All  the  walls  of  Les 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  229 

Jardies  have  fallen  down  through  the  fault  of  the 
builder,  who  did  not  make  any  foundations." *  No 
builder,  however,  managed  to  effect  the  feat  of  mak- 
ing this  unfortunate  wall  stand  upright;  and  in  the 
end,  to  allow  it  to  come  down  in  peace  and  comfort 
whenever  it  felt  so  disposed,  Balzac  bought  the  strip 
of  his  neighbour's  land  which  bordered  it,  and  after 
that  ceased  to  feel  anguish  at  its  vagaries. 

The  wall  was  decidedly  important,  as  Balzac's  for- 
tune was  to  be  made  by  the  contents  of  the  garden  at 
Les  Jardies,  and  it  would  not  have  been  satisfactory 
for  strangers  to  be  able  to  wander  there  at  will. 
Balzac's  new  plan  for  becoming  rich  was  to  cover 
most  of  his  territory  with  glass  houses,  and  to  plant 
100,000  feet  with  pineapples.  Owing  to  the  warmth 
of  the  soil,  he  considered  that  these  pineapples  would 
not  need  much  heat,  and  could  be  sold  at  five  francs 
apiece,  instead  of  the  louis  charged  for  them  in  Paris. 
They  would  therefore  be  quickly  disposed  of,  and 
500,000  francs  would  be  made,  which,  deducting 
100,000  francs  for  expenses,  would  mean  a  clear  profit 
of  400,000  francs  a  year.  "  And  this  money  will  be 
made  without  a  page  of  copy,"  said  poor  Balzac.  He 
was,  of  course,  absolutely  confident  about  the  success 
of  this  new  undertaking,  and  Theophile  Gautier,  who 
tells  the  story,2  says  that  a  search  was  made  for  a  shop 
in  which  to  sell  these  pineapples  of  the  future.  This 
shop  was  to  be  painted  black  with  lines  of  gold,  and 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  453. 

•"Portraits     Contemporains  —  Honor£     de     Balzac,"     by     TWophile 
Gautier. 


230  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

was  to  have  on  it  in  huge  letters  the  announcement, 
"  Ananas  des  Jardies  " ;  but  Gautier  managed  to.  per- 
suade Balzac,  in  order  to  avoid  useless  expense,  not  to 
hire  it  till  the  next  year,  when  the  pineapples  would 
have  had  time  to  grow.  However,  perhaps  Balzac 
was  discouraged  by  the  sight  of  the  snow  falling 
silently  on  his  slope,  or  possibly  his  desire  to  make  a 
fabulous  sum  of  money  by  a  successful  play  had  for 
a  time  blotted  out  all  other  ambitions ;  at  any  rate,  we 
hear  no  more  of  the  pineapples  of  Les  Jardies. 

Balzac's  terribly  embarrassed  condition  in  1837 
caused  him  to  return  with  new  ardour  to  the  idea 
which  haunted  him  all  his  life,  that  of  an  immense 
theatrical  success  which  should  put  an  end  for  ever 
to  his  pecuniary  embarrassments.  References  to  pro- 
jected plays,  to  the  difficulty  he  found  in  writing 
them,  and  to  his  hope  of  finally  freeing  himself  from 
debt  by  producing  a  masterpiece  at  the  theatre, 
occur  constantly  in  his  letters.  "Marie  Touchet" 
and  "Philippe  le  Reserve" — afterwards  to  become 
"Les  Ressources  de  Quinola" — were  the  names  of 
some  of  the  plays  he  intended  to  write.  In  February, 

1837,  as  we  have  already  seen,  he  planned  out  "La 
Premiere  Demoiselle,"  which  he  abandoned  for  £he 
time,  but  which  he  worked  at  with  much  energy  dur- 
ing his  ill-fated  expedition  to  Sardinia,  and  continued 
at  Les  Jardies  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of 

1838.  Before   starting   for   Sardinia   he   wrote   to 
Madame  Carraud:    "If  I  fail  in  what  I  undertake, 
I  shall  throw  myself  with  all  my  might  into  writing 
for  the  theatre."     He  kept  his  word,  and  "  La  Pre- 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  231 

miere  Demoiselle,"  a  gloomy  bourgeois  tragedy, 
which  soon  received  the  name  of  "L'Ecole  des  Me- 
nages,"  was  the  result. 

With  the  distrust  in  himself  which  always  in  mat- 
ters dramatic  mingled  with  his  optimistic  self-con- 
fidence, Balzac  determined  to  have  a  collaborator,  and 
chose  a  young  man  named  Lassailly,  who  was  pecu- 
liarly unfitted  for  the  difficult  post.  In  doing  this  he 
only  gave  one  instance  out  of  many  of  the  wide  gulf 
which  separated  Balzac  the  writer,  gifted  with 
psychological  powers  which  almost  amounted  to 
second  sight,  and  Balzac  in  ordinary  life,  many  of 
whose  misfortunes  had  their  origin  in  an  apparent 
want  of  knowledge  of  human  nature,  which  caused 
him  to  make  deplorable  mistakes  in  choosing  his 
associates. 

The  agreement  between  Balzac  and  his  collaborator 
stipulated  that  the  latter  should  be  lodged  and  fed  at 
the  expense  of  Balzac,  and  should,  on  his  side,  be 
always  at  hand  to  help  his  partner  with  dramatic 
ideas.  Balzac  performed  his  part  of  the  treaty  nobly, 
and  Lassailly  remembered  long  afterwards  the  glories 
of  the  fare  at  Les  Jardies ;  but  his  life  became  a  burden 
to  him  from  his  incapacity  to  do  what  was  expected 
of  him,  and  he  was  nearly  killed  by  Balzac's  nocturnal 
habits.  He  was  permitted  to  go  to  bed  when  he  liked ; 
but  at  two  or  three  in  the  morning  Balzac's  peremp- 
tory bell  would  summon  him  to  work,  and  he  would 
rise,  frightened  and  half  stupefied  with  sleep,  to  find 
his  employer  waiting  for  him,  stern  and  pale  from  his 
vigil.  "  For,"  Leon  Gozlan  says,  "  the  Balzac  fight- 


232  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

ing  with  the  demon  of  his  nightly  work  had  nothing 
in  common  with  the  Balzac  of  the  street  and  of  the 
drawing-room." 1  He  would  be  asked  severely  what 
help  he  could  give,  and,  as  a  result  of  his  terrified  and 
drowsy  stammerings  would  be  sent  to  bed  for  another 
hour,  to  see  whether  in  that  time  inspiration  would 
visit  him.  Six  or  eight  times  in  the  course  of  the 
night  would  this  scene  be  repeated;  and  at  last  Las- 
sailly,  who  was  delicate,  became  seriously  ill  and  had 
to  leave  Les  Jardies,  ever  after  looking  back  on  the 
terrible  Balzac  and  his  appalling  night-watches  as  a 
nightmare  to  be  recalled  with  a  shudder. 

Balzac,  deprived  of  Lassailly's  valuable  assistance, 
worked  on  alone;  and  at  first  everything  seemed 
likely  to  go  well  with  "  L'Ecole  des  Menages." 2 
The  Renaissance,  a  new  theatre  which  had  opened  on 
November  8th,  1838,  with  the  first  representation  of 
Victor  Hugo's  "Ruy  Bias,"  seemed  willing  to  take 
Balzac's  play  to  follow  this ;  and  M.  Armand  Pereme, 
a  distinguished  antiquary  whom  Balzac  had  met  at 
Frapesle,  was  most  active  in  conducting  the  negotia- 
tions. However,  in  the  end,  the  Renaissance  refused 
the  drama.  Balzac  was  terribly  dilatory,  and  irritated 
every  one  by  not  keeping  his  engagements,  and  he 
was  also  high-handed  about  the  arrangements  he  con- 
sidered necessary  to  the  success  of  his  tragedy.  His 
unfortunate  monetary  embarrassments,  too,  made  it 
necessary  for  him  to  ask  for  16,000  francs  before  the 

1  "  Balzac  en  Pantoufles,"  by  L£on  Gozlan. 

2  See  "  L'Ecole  des  Menages  "  in  "  Autour  de  Honor6  de  Balzac,"  by 
the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  235 

play  was  written,  a  request  which  the  Renaissance 
Theatre  was  rather  slow  in  granting.  However,  the 
real  reason  for  the  rejection  of  the  drama,  which  took 
place  on  February  26th,  1839 — just  at  the  time  when 
Balzac  was  in  despair  because  the  wall  at  Les  Jar  dies 
had  fallen  down — was  want  of  money  on  the  part  of 
the  managers  of  the  theatre.  The  only  thing  that 
could  save  the  Renaissance  from  ruin  was  a  great  suc- 
cess ;  and  Alexandre  Dumas,  with  whom  the  directors 
had  formerly  quarrelled,  had  now  made  peace  with 
them,  and  had  offered  them  "  L'Alchimiste,"  which 
would  be  certain  to  attract  large  audiences.  They 
accepted  this  in  place  of  Balzac's  play,  and  "  L'licole 
des  Menages,"  of  which  the  only  copy  extant  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Loven- 
joul,  has  never  been  acted. 

Balzac  was  in  terrible  trouble  about  the  rejection 
of  the  drama  from  which  he  had  hoped  so  much. 
He  wrote  to  Madame  Carraud  *  in  March,  1839 :  "  I 
have  broken  down  like  a  foundered  horse.  I  shall 
certainly  require  rest  at  Frapesle.  The  Renaissance 
had  promised  me  6,000  francs  bounty  to  write  a  piece 
in  five  acts;  Pereme  was  the  agent,  everything  was 
arranged.  As  I  wanted  6,000  francs  at  the  end  of 
February,  I  set  to  work.  I  spent  sixteen  nights  and 
sixteen  days  at  it,  only  sleeping  three  hours  out  of  the 
twenty- four;  I  employed  twenty  workmen  at  the 
printer's  office,  and  I  managed  to  write,  make,  and 
compose  the  five  acts  of  'L'Ecole  des  Menages'  in 
time  to  read  it  on  February  25th.  The  directors  had 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  454. 


234  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

no  money,  or  perhaps  Dumas,  who  had  not  acted  fairly 
to  them,  and  with  whom  they  were  angry,  had  re- 
turned to  them;  they  would  not  hear  my  piece,  and 
refused  it.  So  here  I  am,  worn  out  with  work,  six- 
teen days  lost,  6,000  francs  to  pay,  and  nothing! 
This  blow  has  crushed  me,  I  have  not  yet  recovered 
from  it.  My  career  at  the  theatre  will  have  the  same 
course  as  my  literary  career,  my  first  work  will  be  re- 
fused. A  superhuman  courage  is  necessary  for  these 
terrible  hurricanes  of  misfortune." 

In  the  midst  of  his  troubles,  he  thought  with  bitter 
regret  of  Madame  de  Berny,  who  would  have  under- 
stood everything,  and  have  known  how  to  help  and 
console  him.  He  was  in  a  miserable  state,  was  chased 
like  a  hare  by  creditors,  and  was  on  the  point  of  lack- 
ing bread,  candles,  and  paper.  Then  to  add  to  his 
misery  would  come  a  sensible  letter  from  the  far- 
distant  Madame  Hanska,  blaming  his  frivolity  and 
levity ;  and,  in  his  state  of  semi-starvation,  poor  Balzac 
would  be  almost  driven  frantic  by  words  of  reproach 
from  his  divinity. 

A  little  earlier  than  this  he  had  found  time  for  an 
enormous  amount  of  work  which  would  seem  com- 
pletely out  of  his  province,  and  had  written  letter 
after  letter  in  the  Siecle}  and  spent  10,000  francs,  in 
defence  of  Peytel,  a  notary  of  Belley,  who  had  been 
condemned  to  death  on  August  26th,  1839,  for  the 
murder  of  his  wife  and  servant.  Peytel  appealed 
against  his  sentence,  and  Balzac,  who  had  met  him 
several  times,  espoused  his  cause  with  vehemence. 
There  did  not  seem  to  be  much  satisfactory  defence 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  235 

available  for  the  prisoner,  who  admitted  the  fact  that, 
while  driving  in  a  carriage  not  far  from  Belley,  he 
had  shot  both  his  wife  and  the  coachman.  Balzacr 
however,  was  urgent  in  upholding  Peytel's  contention 
that  his  crime  had  been  homicide,  not  murder,  and 
brought  forward  the  plea  of  "no  premeditation." 
His  energetic  efforts  were  of  no  avail:  Peytel  was 
executed  at  Bourg  on  November  28th,  1839,  and 
Balzac,  who  had  espoused  his  cause  with  quixotic  en- 
thusiasm, wras  genuinely  sorry.  He  wrote  to  Madame 
Hanska  in  September :  "  I  am  extremely  agitated  by 
a  horrible  case,  the  case  of  Peytel.  I  have  seen  this 
poor  fellow  three  times.  He  is  condemned;  I  start 
in  two  hours  for  Bourg."  On  November  30th  he 
continues:  "You  will  perhaps  have  heard  that  after 
two  months  of  unheard-of  efforts  to  save  him  from 
his  punishment  Peytel  went  two  days  ago  to  the  scaf- 
fold, like  a  Christian,  said  the  priest;  I  say,  like  an 
innocent  man."  * 

Another  disappointment  this  year  was  the  fact  that 
Balzac  considered  it  his  duty,  after  presenting  him- 
self as  a  candidate  for  the  Academic  and  paying 
many  of  the  prescribed  visits,  to  retire  in  favour  of 
Victor  Hugo.  As  early  as  1833  he  had  aspired  to 
become  some  day  "un  des  Quarante,"  and  he  then 
said  half  jokingly  to  his  sister:  "When  I  shall  work 
at  the  dictionary  of  the  Academy! "  He  was  never 
destined  to  receive  the  honour  of  admittance  to  this 


1 "  Lettres  h  1'fctrangfere." 

2 "Balzac,   sa  Vie  et   ses   CEuvres,"   par   Mme.   L.   Surville    (n6e   de 
Balzac). 


236  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

august  body,  though  after  his  first  attempt  in  1839, 
when  he  himself  withdrew,  he  again  tried  his  fortune 
in  1843  and  in  1849.  His  normal  condition  of  mone- 
tary embarrassment  was  one  reason  for  his  failure, 
and  no  doubt  some  of  the  members  of  1' Academic 
francaise  disapproved  of  certain  of  his  books,  and 
perhaps  did  not  admire  his  style.  At  any  rate,  as 
his  enemy  Saint-Beuve  expressed  it  concisely:  "M. 
de  Balzac  est  trop  gros  pour  nos  fauteuils,"  and 
while  men  who  are  now  absolutely  unknown  entered 
the  sacred  precincts  without  difficulty,  the  door  re- 
mained permanently  closed  to  the  greatest  novelist 
of  the  age. 


CHAPTER  XII 

1840—1843 


Vautrin  " — La  Revue  Parisienne — Societe"  des  Gens-de-Lettres — 
Death  of  M.  de  Hanski — "  Les  Ressources  de   Qui- 
nola  " — 'La  Comedie  Humaine  " — Balzac  goes 
to  St.  Petersburg  to  meet  Madame 
Hanska — Her  reasons  for 
deferring  marriage 

THE  sad  fate  of  "  L'ficole  des  Menages  "  did  not  long 
discourage  Balzac.  At  the  beginning  of  1840  he 
made  an  engagement  to  provide  Harel,  the  specula- 
tive manager  of  the  Theatre  Porte- St.-Martin,  with 
a  drama.  The  play  was  accepted  before  it  was  writ- 
ten; and  in  order  to  be  near  the  theatre  Balzac  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  fifth  floor  of  the  house  of 
Buisson,  his  tailor,  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  Richelieu. 
His  proceedings  were,  as  usual,  eccentric.  One  day 
Gautier,  who  tells  the  story,  was  summoned  in  a  great 
hurry,  and  found  his  friend  clad  in  his  monk's  habit, 
walking  up  and  down  his  elegant  attic,  and  shivering 
with  impatience. 

" '  Here  is  Theo  at  last,'  he  cried,  when  he  saw  me. 
'You  idler!  dawdle!  sloth!  gee  up,  do  make  haste! 
you  ought  to  have  been  here  an  hour  ago !  To-morrow 

237 


238  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

I  am  going  to  read  to  Harel  a  grand  drama  in  five 
acts.' 

And  you  want  my  advice,'  I  answered,  settling 
myself  comfortably  in  an  armchair,  ready  to  submit 
to  a  long  reading. 

"From  my  attitude  Balzac  guessed  my  thought, 
and  said  simply,  '  The  drama  is  not  written.' 

Good  heavens ! '  said  I :  '  well,  then,  you  must  put 
off  the  reading  for  six  weeks.' 

No,  we  must  hurry  on  the  drama  to  get  the 
money.  In  a  short  time  I  have  a  large  sum  of  money 
to  pay.' 

'  To-morrow  is  impossible ;  there  is  no  time  to 
copy  it.' 

'  This  is  the  way  I  have  arranged  things.  You 
will  write  one  act,  Ourliac  another,  Laurent-Jan  the 
third,  De  Belloy  the  fourth,  I  the  fifth,  and  I  shall 
read  it  at  twelve  o'clock  as  arranged.  One  act  of  a 
drama  is  only  four  or  five  hundred  lines;  one  can  do 
five  hundred  lines  of  dialogue  in  a  day  and  the  night 
following.' 

"  '  Relate  the  subject  to  me,  explain  the  plot,  sketch 
out  the  characters  in  a  few  words,  and  I  will  set  to 
work,'  I  said,  rather  frightened. 

" '  Ah,'  he  cried,  with  superb  impatience  and  mag- 
nificent disdain,  'if  I  have  to  relate  the  subject  to 
you,  we  shall  never  have  finished ! ' ! 

After  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  Gautier  managed 
to  persuade  Balzac  to  give  him  a  slight  idea  of  the 

111  Portraits     Contemporains — Honor6     de     Balzac,"     by     Theophile 
Gautier. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  239 

plot,  and  began  a  scene,  of  which  only  a  few  words 
remain  in  the  finished  work.  Of  all  Balzac's  expected 
collaborators,  Laurent-Jan,  to  whom  "Vautrin" 
is  dedicated,  was  the  only  person  who  worked 
seriously. 

In  the  two  months  and  a  half  of  rehearsals  Balzac 
became  almost  unrecognisable  from  worry  and  over- 
work.   His  perplexities  became  public  property,  and 
people  used  to  wait  at  the  door  of  the  theatre  to  see 
him  rush  out,  dressed  in  a  huge  blue  coat,  a  white 
waistcoat,  brown  trousers,  and  enormous  shoes  with 
the  leather  tongues  outside,  instead  of  inside,  his  trou- 
sers.   Everything  he  wore  was  many  sizes  too  big  for 
him,  and  covered  with  mud  from  the  Boulevards; 
and  it  was  an  amusement  to  the  frivolous  Parisians 
to  see  him  stride  along  in  these  peculiar  garments, 
his  face  bearing  the  impress  of  the  trouble  and  over- 
strain he  was  enduring.     He  was  at  the  mercy  of 
every  one.     The  manager  hurried  and  harried  him, 
because  the  only  hope  of  saving  the  theatre   from 
bankruptcy  was  the  immediate  production  of  a  suc- 
cessful play.    The  actors,  knowing  the  piece  was  not 
finished,  each  clamoured  for  a  part  to  suit  his  or  her 
peculiar  idiosyncrasies,  and  Balzac  was  so  overbur- 
dened, that  occasionally  in  despair  he  was  tempted 
to  abandon  his  play  altogether. 

There  was  tremendous  excitement  in  Paris  about 
the  approaching  first  representation  of  "Vautrin"; 
and  foreign  politics,  banquets,  and  even  the  burning 
question  of  reform,  paled  in  interest  before  the  great 
event.  All  the  seats  were  sold  beforehand;  and  as 


240  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

there  was  a  rush  for  the  tickets,  Balzac  and  Harel 
chose  their  audience,  and  thought  that  they  had  man- 
aged to  secure  one  friendly  to  Balzac.  Unfortunately, 
however,  the  seats  were  sold  so  early  that  many  of 
them  were  parted  with  at  a  profit  by  the  first  buyers, 
and  in  the  end  a  large  proportion  of  the  spectators 
were  avowedly  hostile  to  Balzac.  March  14th,  1840, 
was  the  important  date,  and  Balzac  wrote  to  Madame 
Hanska :  "  I  have  gone  through  many  miseries,  and 
if  I  have  a  success  they  will  be  completely  over.  Im- 
agine what  my  anxiety  will  be  during  the  evening 
when  'Vautrin'  is  being  acted.  In  five  hours'  time 
it  will  be  decided  whether  I  pay  or  do  not  pay  my 
debts."  1 

He  was  very  nervous  beforehand,  and  told  Leon 
Gozlan  that  he  was  afraid  there  would  be  a  terrible 
disaster. 

The  plot  of  the  play  is  extraordinary  and  impos- 
sible. Vautrin,  the  Napoleon  among  convicts,  who 
appears  in  several  of  Balzac's  novels,  is  the  hero;  he 
has  declared  war  against  society,  and  the  scene  of 
the  drama,  with  Vautrin  as  the  principal  figure, 
passes  in  the  aristocratic  precincts  of  the  Faubourg 
St.  Germain.  The  theatre  was  crowded  for  the  per- 
formance, and  the  three  first  acts,  though  received 
coldly,  went  off  without  interruption.  At  the  fourth 
act,  however,  the  storm  burst,  as  Frederick  Lemaitre, 
who  evidently  felt  qualms  about  the  success  of  his 
part,  had  determined  to  make  it  comic,  and  appeared 
in  the  strange  costume  of  a  Mexican  general,  with  a 

1 "  Lettres  a  1'fitrangfere." 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  241 

hat  trimmed  with  white  feathers,  surmounted  by  a 
bird  of  paradise.  Worse  still,  when  he  took  off  this 
hat  he  showed  a  wig  in  the  form  of  a  pyramid,  a 
coiffure  which  was  the  special  prerogative  of  Louis 
Philippe !  The  play  was  doomed.  The  Duke  of  Or- 
leans, who  was  in  one  of  the  boxes,  left  the  theatre 
hurriedly;  and  it  was  difficult  to  finish  the  perform- 
ance, so  loud  were  the  shouts,  hisses,  and  even  threats. 
The  next  day  the  following  official  announcement 
appeared  in  the  Moniteur:  "  The  Minister  of  the  In- 
terior has  interdicted  the  appearance  of  the  drama 
performed  yesterday  at  the  Theatre  of  the  Porte  St. 
Martin  under  the  title  of  '  Vautrin.' '  Balzac's  hated 
foes,  the  journalists,  of  course  rejoiced  in  his  down- 
fall, and  accentuated  the  situation  by  declaring  the 
piece  to  be  not  only  disloyal,  but  revoltingly  immoral. 
On  the  other  hand,  Victor  Hugo,  George  Sand,  and 
Mme.  de  Girardin  stood  firmly  by  him,  and  Frederick 
*Lemaitre,  to  whom  Balzac  evidently  bore  no  malice 
for  his  large  share  in  the  disaster,  was,  he  said, 
"sublime." 

Leon  Gozlan  went  to  see  Balzac  the  day  after  the 
performance,  and  found  him  outwardly  calm,  but  his 
face  was  flushed,  his  hands  burning,  and  his  lips 
swollen,  as  though  he  had  passed  through  a  night  of 
fever.  He  did  not  mention  the  scene  of  the  night 
before,  but  talked  eagerly  of  a  plan  to  start  a  large 
dairy  at  Les  Jardies,  and  to  provide  Paris  and  Ver- 
sailles with  rich  milk.  He  had  several  other  equally 
brilliant  schemes  on  hand:  he  intended  to  grow  vines, 
cultivate  vegetables,  sell  manure ;  and  by  these  varied 


242  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

means  to  assure  himself  an  income  of  eighteen  thou- 
sand francs. 

The  Director  of  the  Beaux- Arts  was  sent  to  offer 
Balzac  money  to  make  up  for  his  loss;  he  says,  how- 
ever: "They  came  to  offer  me  an  indemnity,  and 
began  by  proposing  five  thousand  francs.  I  blushed 
to  my  hair,  and  answered  that  I  did  not  accept  char- 
ity, that  I  had  put  myself  two  hundred  thousand 
francs  in  debt  by  writing  twelve  or  fifteen  master- 
pieces, which  would  count  for  something  in  the  glory 
of  France  in  the  nineteenth  century;  that  for  three 
months  I  had  done  nothing  but  rehearse  'Vautrin,' 
and  that  during  those  three  months  I  should  other- 
wise have  gained  twenty-five  thousand  francs;  that 
a  pack  of  creditors  were  after  me,  but  that  from  the 
moment  that  I  could  not  satisfy  all,  it  was  quite 
indifferent  to  me  whether  I  were  tracked  by  fifty 
or  by  a  hundred,  as  the  amount  of  courage  required 
for  resistance  was  the  same.  The  Director  of  the 
Beaux-Arts,  Cave,  went  out,  they  tell  me,  full  of 
esteem  and  admiration.  '  This,'  said  he,  '  is  the  first 
time  that  I  have  been  refused.'  '  So  much  the  worse/ 
I  answered." l 

Balzac  became  very  ill  with  fever  and  brain  neu- 
ralgia the  day  after  the  performance  of  "  Vautrin," 
and  Madame  Surville  took  him  to  her  house  and 
nursed  him.  When  he  left  his  bed  it  was,  of  course, 
to  find  his  affairs  in  a  worse  condition  than  ever,  and 
he  was,  as  he  described  himself,  "  a  stag  at  bay."  His 
friendship  with  Madame  Visconti  was  a  consolation  to 

1 "  Lettres  a  1'Etrangere." 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  243 

him  in  his  troubles;  he  describes  her  to  Madame 
Hanska,  who  did  not  quite  appreciate  these  raptures, 
as  "one  of  the  most  amiable  of  women,  of  infinite 
and  exquisite  goodness.  Of  delicate,  elegant  beauty, 
she  helps  me  to  support  life."  Nevertheless,  no 
friendships  made  up  for  the  want  of  a  wife  and 
home,  the  two  things  for  which  he  yearned;  and  he 
writes  sadly :  "  I  have  much  need  now  of  having  my 
wounds  tended  and  cured,  and  of  being  able  to  live 
without  cares  at  Les  Jardies,  and  to  pass  my  days 
quietly  between  work  and  a  wife.  But  it  seems  as 
if  the  story  of  every  man  will  only  be  a  novel  to 
me." * 

His  despondency  did  not  abate  his  powers  of  work, 
as  from  April  to  December  he  published  "  Z.  Marcas," 
"Un  Prince  de  la  Boheme,"  and  "Pierre  Grassou"; 
while  in  1841,  among  other  masterpieces,  appeared 
"  La  Fausse  Maitresse,"  "  Une  Tenebreuse  Affaire," 
"Un  Menage  de  Gar9on,"  "Ursule  Mirouet,"  and 
"Les  Memoires  de  deux  Jeunes  Mariees."  He  was 
almost  at  the  end  of  his  courage,  however,  and  talked 
seriously  in  the  case  of  failure  in  his  new  enterprise — 
the  Revue  Parisienne — of  going  to  Brazil  on  some 
mad  errand  which  he  would  undertake  because  it  was 
mad;  and  of  either  coming  back  rich  or  disappearing 
altogether. 

A  monthly  magazine,  of  which  one  man  was  to  be 
director,  manager,  editor,  besides  being  sole  contribu- 
tor, was  a  heroic  attempt  at  making  a  fortune;  and 
this  was  what  Balzac  contemplated,  and  accomplished 

1 "  Lettres  a  Pfitrangfere." 


244  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

for  a  short  time  in  the  Revue  Parisienne.  His  mode 
of  working  was  not  calculated  to  lessen  the  strain  to 
which  he  subjected  himself;  as,  never  able  to  start 
anything  till  pressed  for  time,  he  left  the  work  till 
near  the  end  of  the  month,  when  the  printers  were 
clamouring  for  copy.  Then  there  was  no  pause  or 
slumber  for  him;  his  attention  was  concentrated  on 
his  varied  and  difficult  subjects  till  the  moment  when 
he  rushed  with  disordered  garments  to  the  printer's 
office.  There,  seated  anywhere — on  the  corner  of  a 
table,  at  a  compositor's  frame,  or  before  a  foreman's 
bureau — he  became  completely  absorbed  in  the  colos- 
sal labour  of  reading  and  correcting  his  proofs.  The 
first  number  of  the  Revue  Parisienne  appeared  on 
July  25th,  1840;  but  it  was  only  continued  for  three 
months,  as  Balzac  decided  that  the  task  was  too  much 
for  him.  During  its  short  life,  however,  it  furnished 
a  magnificent  and  striking  example  of  his  extraor- 
dinary powers  and  mental  attainments;  as  each  of 
the  numbers  was  the  size  of  a  small  volume,  and  he 
provided  novels,  biography,  philosophy,  analysis, 
and  criticism,  and  treated  brilliantly  each  subject  he 
attacked. 

A  question  in  which  Balzac  took  the  greatest  in- 
terest was  that  of  the  rights  of  authors  and  pub- 
lishers, which  under  Louis  Philippe  did  not  meet  with 
much  respect.  Not  only  did  the  Belgians  reproduce 
French  works  at  a  cheap  rate  by  calmly  dispensing 
with  the  duty  of  paying  their  authors,  but  publishers 
in  the  provinces  often  followed  this  pernicious  prac- 
tice, and  it  was  difficult  to  prosecute  them.  A  striking 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  245 

instance  of  this  injustice  was  to  be  found  in  the  case 
of  "Paroles  d'un  Croyant,"  by  M.  de  Lamennais, 
of  which  ten  thousand  pirated  copies  were  sold  in 
Toulouse,  where  only  five  hundred  of  the  authorised 
edition  had  been  sent  by  the  publisher.  No  redress 
could  be  obtained  because,  though  the  fact  was  cer- 
tain, legal  proofs  were  apparently  lacking;  but  in 
consequence  of  this  glaring  infraction  of  the  rights 
of  both  author  and  publisher,  on  December  28th, 
1838,  Balzac  became  a  member  of  the  Societe  des 
Gens-de-Lettres.  This  Society,  which  was  insignifi- 
cant when  he  first  joined  it,  owed  everything  to  his 
reputation,  and  to  the  energy  with  which  he  worked 
for  its  interests.  On  October  22nd,  1839,  he  spoke 
at  Rouen  in  its  behalf,  in  the  first  action  brought  by 
it  against  literary  piracy.  Later  in  the  same  year  he 
was  elected  President,  and  in  May,  1840,  he  drew  up 
the  masterly  "  Code  Litteraire  de  la  Societe  des  Gens- 
de-Lettres  "  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
made.  On  September  5th,  1841,  however,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  dispute  concerning  the  drawing  up  by 
the  Gens-de-Lettres  of  a  manifesto  to  be  presented 
to  the  deputies  composing  the  Law  Commission  on 
Literary  Property,  Balzac  withdrew  from  the  So- 
ciety. The  ostensible  reason  for  his  resignation  was, 
that  at  a  committee  meeting  to  discuss  the  Manifesto, 
doubts  were  thrown  on  his  impartiality;  but  it  seems 
probable  from  his  letter 2  that  some  unwritten  ground 

1  This  may  be  found  in  the  fidition  definitive  of  Balzac's  works,  or  in 
"  Balzac  Chez  Lui,"  Leon  Gozlan. 
3 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  30. 


246  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

for  complaint  really  caused  his  withdrawal.  After 
Balzac's  death,  the  Societe  des  Gens-de-Lettres  ac- 
knowledged with  gratitude  the  debt  owed  him  as  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Society,  and  the  help  received 
from  his  intelligence  and  activity. 

In  1840,  before  he  ceased  to  belong  to  the  Societe 
des  Gens-de-Lettres,  he  had  left  Les  Jardies;  and 
had  hidden  himself  under  the  name  of  Madame  de 
Brugnolle,  his  housekeeper,  in  a  mysterious  little 
house  at  No.  19  Rue  Basse,  Passy,  to  which  no  one 
was  admitted  without  many  precautions,  even  after 
he  had  given  the  password.  Behind  this  was  a  tiny 
garden  where  Balzac  would  sit  in  fine  weather,  and 
talk  over  the  fence  to  M.  Grandmain,  his  landlord. 
In  his  new  abode  he  established  many  of  his  treas- 
ures: his  bust  by  David  d' Angers,  some  of  the  beau- 
tiful furniture  he  was  collecting  in  preparation  for 
the  home  he  longed  for,  and  many  of  his  pictures, 
those  treasures  by  Giorgione,  Greuze,  and  Palma, 
which  were  the  delight  of  his  heart.  With  great 
difficulty,  by  publishing  books  and  articles  in  quick 
succession,  he  had  prevented  the  sale  of  Les  Jardies 
by  his  creditors.  As  he  had  no  money  to  pay  cab 
fares  this  entailed  rushing  from  Passy  to  Paris  on 
foot,  often  in  pouring  rain;  with  the  result  that  he 
became  seriously  ill,  and  found  it  necessary  to  recruit 
in  Touraine  and  Brittany. 

On  June  15th,  1841,  a  fictitious  sale  for  15,500 
francs  was  made  of  Les  Jardies,  which  had  cost  Bal- 
zac 100,000  francs;  but  he  did  not  really  part  with 
the  villa  till  later,  when  he  had  decided  that  it  would 


HONOUR  DE    BALZAC  247 

not  be  suitable  ultimately  as  a  residence.  To  add  to 
his  troubles,  he  found  it  necessary  to  take  his  mother 
to  live  with  him,  an  arrangement  which  gave  rise  to 
many  little  storms,  and  made  writing  a  difficult  mat- 
ter. Madame  Visconti's  society  gave  him  no  conso- 
lation at  this  time, — he  was  disappointed  in  her;  and 
decided  that  his  abuse  of  Englishwomen  in  the  "  Lys 
dans  la  Vallee  "  was  perfectly  justified. 

Fortunately,  he  was  now  feeling  tolerably  cheerful 
about  money  matters ;  as  he  had  paid  off  the  hundred 
thousand  francs  he  owed  from  his  treaty  in  1836,  and 
hoped  in  fifteen  months  to  have  made  arrangements 
for  discharging  all  his  debts;  while  three  publishers, 
Dubochet,  Furme,  and  Hetzel  &  Paulin,  had  under- 
taken to  publish  a  complete  edition  of  his  works  with 
engravings.  This  was  to  be  the  first  appearance  of 
the  long-dreamt-of  "  Comedie  Humaine,"  the  great 
work  of  Balzac's  life. 

However,  for  a  time  even  this  took  a  secondary 
place,  as  on  January  5th,  1842,  a  letter  with  a  black 
seal  arrived  from  Madame  Hanska;  and  gave  the  im- 
portant news  of  the  death  of  M.  de  Hanski,  which 
had  taken  place  on  November  10th,  1841.  Balzac's 
letter  in  answer  to  this  is  pathetic  to  any  one  cognisant 
of  his  subsequent  history.  He  begins  with  confi- 
dence i1  "  As  to  me,  my  dear  adored  one,  although 
this  event  enables  me  to  reach  what  I  have  desired 
ardently  for  nearly  ten  years,  I  can,  before  you  and 
God,  say  in  justice,  that  I  have  never  had  anything  in 
my  heart  but  complete  submission,  and  that  in  my 

^'Lettres  a  l'£trang£re." 


248  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

most  terrible  moments  I  have  not  soiled  my  soul  with 
evil  wishes."  Further  on,  he  tells  her  that  nothing  in 
him  is  changed;  and,  suddenly  seized  with  a  terrible 
doubt  from  the  ambiguous  tone  of  her  letter,  he 
cries,  in  allusion  to  a  picture  of  Wierzchownia  which 
always  hung  in  his  study:  "Oh!  I  am  perhaps  very 
unjust,  but  this  injustice  comes  from  the  passion  of 
my  heart.  I  should  have  liked  two  words  for  myself 
in  your  letter.  I  have  hunted  for  them  in  vain — two 
words  for  the  man  who,  since  the  landscape  in  which 
you  live  has  been  before  his  eyes,  has  never  continued 
working  for  ten  minutes  without  looking  at  it." 

He  longs  to  start  at  once  to  see  her,  but  from  the 
tone  of  her  letter  he  gathers  that  he  had  better  wait 
until  she  writes  to  him  again,  when  he  begs  for  the 
assurance  that  her  existence  will  henceforward  belong 
to  him,  and  that  no  cloud  will  ever  come  between 
them.  He  is  alarmed  about  her  anxiety  on  the  sub- 
ject of  her  letters.  They  are  quite  safe,  he  says,  kept 
in  a  box  like  the  one  in  which  she  keeps  his.  "But 
why  this  uneasiness  now?  Why?  This  is  what  I  ask 
myself  in  terrible  anxiety ! "  He  finishes  with,  "Adieu, 
my  dear  and  beautiful  life  whom  I  love  so  much,  and 
to  whom  I  can  now  say  '  Sempre  medesimo.' ' 

Madame  Hanska,  in  reply  to  this  letter,  objected 
strongly  to  the  breach  of  "les  convenances"  wThich 
would  be  committed  if  Balzac  came  to  see  her  early 
in  her  widowhood;  and  it  was  not  till  July  17th,  1843, 
that  he  was  at  last  permitted  to  meet  her  in  St.  Pe- 
tersburg, and  then  he  had  not  seen  her  since  his  visit 
to  Vienna,  eight  years  before. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  249 

However,  he  was  now  full  of  happy  anticipations, 
and  it  was  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm  that  he 
looked  forward  to  the  appearance  of  "  Les  Ressources 
de  Quinola,"  which  had  been  accepted  by  the  Odeon, 
and  on  which  he  founded  the  most  extravagant  hopes. 
The  long  night  of  trouble  was  nearly  over,  and  a  late 
happiness  would  dawn  upon  him,  heralded  by  a  bril- 
liant success  at  the  theatre,  which  would  not  only  free 
him  from  debt,  but  would  also  enable  him  to  offer 
riches  to  the  woman  he  loved. 

At  the  first  hearing  of  this  play  in  the  green-room 
of  the  Odeon,  the  company  had  been  rather  disen- 
chanted, as  we  know  because,  after  reading  four  acts 
admirably,  Balzac  was  forced  to  improvise  the  un- 
written fifth,  and  this  he  did  so  badly  that  Madame 
Dorval,  the  principal  actress,  refused  to  act.  How- 
ever, on  the  same  day  Lireux,  the  director  of  the 
Odeon,  came  to  the  Restaurant  Risbeck,  where  Balzac 
was  dining  with  Leon  Gozlan,  and  said  that  he  would 
accept  the  play.  Balzac  at  once  insisted  that  for  the 
first  three  representations  he  must  have  command  of 
the  whole  of  the  theatre,  but  he  promised  that  Lireux 
should  share  the  receipts  with  him,  and  these  he  said 
would  be  enormous.  He  also  stipulated  that  for  his 
three  special  performances  no  journalists  should  be 
admitted,  there  being  war  to  the  knife  between  him 
and  them.  As  the  place  of  Balzac's  abode  was  kept 
strictly  secret  for  fear  of  his  creditors,  the  time  of  the 
rehearsal  each  day  was  to  be  communicated  to  him  by 
a  messenger  from  the  theatre,  who  was  told  to  walk 
in  the  Champs  Elysees,  towards  the  Arc  de  1'Eltoile, 


250  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

At  the  twentieth  tree  on  the  left,  past  the  Circle,  he 
would  find  a  man  who  would  appear  to  be  looking 
for  a  bird  in  the  branches.  The  messenger  was  to  say 
to  him,  "  I  have  it,"  and  the  man  would  answer,  "As 
you  have  it,  what  are  you  waiting  for? "  On  receiving 
this  reply  the  emissary  from  the  Odeon  would  hand 
over  the  paper,  and  depart  without  looking  behind 
him. 

The  only  comment  that  Lireux,  who  appears  to 
have  been  a  practical  man,  made  on  these  curious 
arrangements  was,  that  if  the  twentieth  tree  had  been 
struck  by  lightning  during  the  night,  he  supposed 
that  the  servant  must  stop  at  the  twenty-first,  and 
Balzac  assented  gravely  to  this  proposition. 

The  great  writer  worked  with  his  usual  energy  at 
the  rehearsals,  continually  rewriting  parts  of  the  play, 
and  besides  this  occupation  spending  hours  in  the 
theatre  bureau,  as  he  had  determined  to  sell  all  the 
tickets  himself.  For  the  first  night  of  "Les  Res- 
sources  de  Quinola  "  the  audience  was  to  be  brilliantly 
representative  of  the  aristocracy,  beauty,  and  talent 
of  France.  The  proscenium  would,  Balzac  hoped,  be 
occupied  by  ambassadors  and  ministers,  the  pit  by 
the  Chevaliers  de  St.  Louis,  and  the  orchestra  stalls 
by  peers;  while  deputies  and  state  functionaries  were 
to  be  placed  in  the  second  gallery,  financiers  in  the 
third,  and  rich  bourgeoisie  in  the  fourth.  Beautiful 
women  were  to  be  accommodated  with  particularly 
prominent  places;  the  price  of  the  seats  was  to  be 
doubled  or  trebled;  and  to  avoid  the  continual  inter- 
ruptions to  which  "Vautrin"  was  subjected,  tickets 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  251 

were  only  to  be  sold  to  Balzac's  assured  friends. 
Therefore  many  persons  who  offered  fabulous  sums 
of  money  were  refused  admittance,  and  told  that 
every  seat  was  taken.  By  these  means  Balzac  ulti- 
mately overreached  himself,  as  people  believed  that 
all  the  seats  were  really  sold,  and  that  it  was  no  use 
to  apply  for  tickets.  When,  therefore,  March  19th, 
1842,  the  night  of  Balzac's  anticipated  triumph,  ar- 
rived, instead  of  a  brilliant  assemblage  crowding  the 
Odeon,  it  was  three  parts  empty;  and  the  small  audi- 
ence, who  had  paid  enormously  for  their  seats,  and 
naturally  expected  a  brilliant  throng  in  the  theatre, 
were  in  a  critical  and  captious  mood. 

The  scene  of  the  play  was  laid  in  Spain  in  the 
time  of  Philip  II.,  and  much  of  the  dialogue  was 
witty  and  spirited;  but  Balzac  had  mixed  up  serious 
situations  and  burlesque  in  a  manner  irritating  to  the 
audience,  and  there  were  many  interruptions.  Bal- 
zac was  fortunately  unaware  of  his  want  of  success; 
he  had  completely  disappeared,  and  it  was  not  till 
half -past  twelve,  long  after  the  finish  of  the  perform- 
ance, that  he  was  discovered  fast  asleep  at  the  back 
of  a  box. 

The  fourth  representation  of  "Les  Ressources 
de  Quinola"  was  specially  tumultuous.  Lireux, 
being  now  master  of  the  theatre,  invited  all  the 
journalistic  world  to  be  present,  and  they,  furious 
at  their  exclusion  during  the  first  three  nights,  en- 
couraged the  general  clamour.  Some  of  the  hooters 
were  turned  out,  and  the  audience  then  amused  them- 
selves by  ejaculating  "Splendid!"  "Admirable!'* 


252  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

"" Superb!"  and  "Sublime!"  at  every  sentence,  and 
by  singing  comic  couplets,  such  as: 

C'est  M.  Balzac, 

Qu'a  fait  tout  ce  mic-mac! 

during  the  intervals. 

However,  after  two  scenes  had  been  entirely  cut 
out,  and  several  others  suppressed,  "  Quinola "  ran 
for  nineteen  nights.  Many  years  afterwards,  in  1863, 
it  was  acted  at  the  Vaudeville,  and  was  a  great  suc- 
cess. During  his  lifetime  Balzac's  plays  received 
little  applause — in  fact,  were  generally  greeted  with 
obloquy ;  but  when  it  was  too  late  for  praise  or  blame 
to  matter,  his  apotheosis  as  a  dramatist  took  place; 
and  on  this  occasion  his  bust  was  brought  on  the  stage, 
and  crowned  amid  general  enthusiasm. 

The  year  1842  is  important  in  the  annals  of  Balzac's 
life,  as  on  April  23rd  his  novels  were  for  the  first 
time  collected  together  to  form  the  "  Comedie  Hu- 
maine,"  his  great  title  to  fame.  The  preface  to  this 
ranks  among  the  celebrated  prefaces  of  the  world, 
and  it  was  written  at  the  suggestion  of  his  friend 
Hetzel,  who  objected  strongly  to  the  prefaces  signed 
Felix  Davin,  which  had  been  placed  in  1835  at  the 
beginning  of  the  "Etudes  de  Moeurs  au  XlXieme 
Siecle,"  and  of  the  "Etudes  Philosophiques."  In 
an  amusing  letter  Hetzel  tells  Balzac  that  a  preface 
should  be  simple,  natural,  rather  modest,  and  always 
good-humoured.  "  Sum  up — sum  up  as  modestly  as 
possible.  There  is  the  true  pride,  when  any  one  has 
done  what  you  have.  Relate  what  you  want  to  say 


HONORS    DE     BALZAC  253 

quite  calmly.  Imagine  yourself  old,  disengaged 
from  everything,  even  from  yourself.  Speak  like 
one  of  your  own  heroes,  and  you  will  make  something 
useful,  indispensable. 

"  Set  to  work,  my  fat  father;  allow  a  thin  publisher 
to  speak  thus  to  Your  Fatness.  You  know  that  it  is 
with  good  intentions."  * 

We  may  be  grateful  to  Hetzel  for  this  advice, 
which  Balzac  evidently  followed;  as  the  preface  is 
written  in  a  quiet  and  modest  tone  unusual  with  him, 
and  he  follows  Hetzel's  counsel,  and  gives  a  concise 
summary  of  his  intention  in  writing  the  "Comedie 
Humaine." 

He  explains  that  he  has  attempted  in  his  great 
work  to  classify  man,  as  Buff  on  has  classified  animals, 
and  to  show  that  his  varieties  of  character,  like  the 
differences  of  form  in  the  lower  creation,  come  from 
environment.  The  three  great  divisions  of  the 
Comedie  Humaine  are  "  Etudes  de  Moeurs,"  "  Etudes 
Philosophiques,"  and  "Etudes  Analytiques " ;  and 
the  "  Etudes  de  Moeurs  "  comprise  many  subdivisions, 
each  of  which,  in  Balzac's  mind,  is  connected  with 
some  special  period  of  life. 

The  "  Scenes  de  la  Vie  Privee,"  of  which  the  best- 
known  novels  are  "Le  Pere  Goriot"  (1834),  "La 
Messe  de  1'Athee"  (1836),  "La  Grenadiere" 
(1832),  "Albert  Savarus"  (1842),  "£tude  de 
Femme"  (1830),  "Beatrix"  (1838),  and  "Modeste 
Mignon"  (1844),  Balzac  connects  with  childhood 

1 "  Trois  Lettres,"  in  "  Autour  de  Honord  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte 
de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


254  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

and  youth.  The  "  Scenes  de  la  Vie  de  Province," 
to  which  belong  among  others  "  Eugenie  Grandet " 
(1833),  "Le  Lys  dans  la  Vallee"  (1835),  "L'll- 
lustre  Gaudissart "  (1833),  "Pierrette"  (1839),  and 
"Le  Cure  de  Tours"  (1832),  typify  a  period  of 
combat;  while  "Scenes  de  la  Vie  Parisienne,"  which 
contain  "  La  Duchesse  de  Langeais  "  (1834) ,  "  Cesar 
Birotteau"  (1837),  "La  Cousine  Bette"  (1846), 
"Le  Cousin  Pons"  (1847),  "Facino  Cane"  (1836), 
"La  Maison  de  Nucingen"  (1837),  and  several  less- 
known  novels,  show  the  effect  of  Parisian  life  in 
forming  or  modifying  character. 

Next  Balzac  turns  to  more  exceptional  existences, 
those  which  guard  the  interests  of  others,  and  gives 
us  "  Scenes  de  la  Vie  Militaire,"  comprising  "  Une 
Passion  dans  la  Desert "  (1830) ,  and  "  Les  Chouans  " 
(1827);  and  "Scenes  de  la  Vie  Politique,"  which 
contain  "  Un  Episode  sous  la  Terreur  "  (1831),  "Une 
Tenebreuse  Affaire"  (1841),  "Z.  Marcas"  (1840), 
and  "L'Envers  de  1'Histoire  Contemporaine " 
(1847).  He  finishes  the  "Etudes  de  Mreurs"  with 
"  Scenes  de  la  Vie  de  Campagne,"  consisting  of  "  Le 
Medecin  de  Campagne"  (1832),  "Le  Cure  de  Vil- 
lage" (1837  to  1841),  and  "Les  Paysans"  (1844)  ; 
and  these  are  to  be,  Balzac  says,  "  the  evening  of  this 
long  day.  Here  are  my  purest  characters,  my  appli- 
cation of  the  principles  of  order,  politics,  morality." 

There  are  no  subdivisions  to  the  "  Etudes  Philoso- 
phiques,"  among  which  we  find  "La  Peau  de  Cha- 
grin," written  in  1830,  and  considered  by  Balzac  a 
link  between  the  "Etudes  Philosophiques " ;  "Jesus- 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  255 

Christ  en  Flandre"  (1831),  "Massimilla  Doni" 
(1839) ,"  La  Recherche  de  1'Absolu  "  (1834) ,  "  Louis 
Lambert"  (1832),  and  "Seraphita"  (1835).  To 
the  division  entitled  "Etudes  Analytiques"  belong 
only  two  books,  "  La  Physiologic  du  Mariage " 
(1829),  and  "Petites  Miseres  de  la  Vie  Conjugale" 
(1830  to  1845). 

"  The  Comedie  Humaine  "  was  never  finished,  but, 
incomplete  as  it  is,  it  remains  a  noble  memorial  of 
Balzac's  genius,  as  well  as  an  astonishing  testimony 
to  his  extraordinary  power  of  work.  The  last  edition 
of  it  which  was  published  in  Balzac's  lifetime  ap- 
peared in  1846,  and  formed  sixteen  octavo  volumes. 
It  consists  of  eighty-eight  novels  and  tales,  and  by  far 
the  greater  number  of  these  appeared  in  the  first 
edition  of  1842.  A  strong  connection  is  kept  up  be- 
tween the  different  stories  by  the  fact  that  the  same 
characters  appear  over  and  over  again,  and  the  reader 
finds  himself  in  a  world  peopled  by  beings  who,  as 
in  real  life,  at  one  time  take  the  foremost  place,  and 
anon  are  relegated  to  a  subordinate  position;  but  who 
preserve  their  identity  vividly  throughout. 

Balzac  found  it  impossible  to  manage  without  a 
pied-a-terre  in  Paris,  and  for  some  reason  he  could 
no  longer  lodge  with  Buisson,  his  tailor,  so  in  1842 
he  took  a  lodging  in  the  same  house  with  his  sister, 
Madame  Surville,  at  28  Rue  du  Faubourg  Poisson- 
niere.  Life  was  brightening  for  him;  he  was  begin- 
ning by  his  strenuous  efforts  to  diminish  perceptibly 
his  load  of  debt,  and  the  star  of  hope  shone  brightly 
on  his  path. 


256  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

After  many  doubts  on  the  part  of  Madame 
Hanska,  who  was  most  particular  in  observing  the 
proprieties,  he  was  allowed  in  1843  to  meet  her  in  St. 
Petersburg,  and  arrived  on  July  17th,  after  a  rough 
passage  from  Dunkerque,  during  which  his  discom- 
forts were  nothing  to  him,  so  joyous  was  he  at  the 
thought  of  soon  seeing  his  beloved  one.  Madame 
Hanska  was  established  at  the  Hotel  Koutai'zoff,  in 
the  Rue  Grande  Millione,  and  Balzac  took  a  lodging 
near,  and  thought  St.  Petersburg  with  its  deserted 
streets  a  dreary  place.  All  minor  feelings  were,  how- 
ever, merged  in  the  happiness  of  being  near  Madame 
Hanska,  of  hearing  her  voice,  and  of  giving  expres- 
sion to  that  passionate  love  which  had  possessed  him 
for  more  than  ten  years.  In  his  sight  she  was  as 
young  and  beautiful  as  ever,  and  his  fascinated  eyes 
watched  her  with  rapture,  as  she  leant  back  thought- 
fully in  the  little  arm-chair  in  the  blue  drawing-room, 
her  head  resting  against  a  cushion  trimmed  with  black 
lace.  He  could  recall  every  detail  afterwards  of  that 
room,  could  count  the  points  of  the  lace,  and  see  the 
bronze  ornaments  filled  with  flowers,  in  which  he  used 
to  catch  his  knees  in  his  rapid  pacings  up  and  down; 
and  his  eyes  would  fill  with  tears,  and  the  creations 
of  his  imagination  fade  and  become  unreal,  beside 
the  haunting  pictures  of  his  memory.  He  loved 
Madame  Hanska  with  a  love  which  had  grown  stead- 
ily since  their  first  meeting,  and  which  now  was  threat- 
ening to  overmaster  him,  so  that  even  work  would 
become  impossible.  Nevertheless,  though  she  was 
most  charming  and  affectionate,  and  he  stayed  in  St. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  257 

Petersburg  until    September,  nothing    definite  was 
settled. 

Madame  Hanska  was  a  prudent  person ;  her  dearly- 
loved  daughter  Anna  was  growing  up,  and  it  was 
quite  necessary  to  settle  her  in  life  before  taking  any 
decided  step.  Besides,  though  she  hardly  allowed  this 
to  herself,  there  is  no  doubt  that  she  was  rather 
alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  becoming  Madame  Honore 
de  Balzac.  The  marriage  would  be  decidedly  a 
mesalliance  for  a  Rzewuska,  and  her  family  con- 
stantly and  steadily  exerted  their  influence  to  prevent 
her  from  wrecking  her  future.  What,  they  asked 
her,  would  be  her  life  with  a  husband  as  eccentric, 
extravagant,  and  impecunious,  as  they  believed  Balzac 
to  be?  They  collected  gossip  about  him  in  Paris,  and 
told  Madame  Hanska  endless  stories,  occasionally 
true,  often  false,  and  sometimes  merely  exaggerated, 
about  his  oddities,  his  love  affairs,  and  his  general 
unsuitability  for  alliance  with  an  aristocratic  family. 
It  was  no  doubt  pleasant  to  have  a  man  of  genius  and 
of  world- wide  fame  as  a  lover ;  but  what  would  be  her 
position  if  she  took  the  fatal  step,  and  bound  herself 
to  him  for  life?  Madame  Hanska  listened  and 
paused :  she  well  understood  her  advantages  as  a  great 
and  moneyed  lady;  and  she  was  under  no  illusions 
as  to  the  harassed  and  chequered  existence  which  she 
would  lead  with  Balzac.  She  had  often  lent  him 
money,  his  letters  kept  her  well  informed  about  the 
state  of  his  affairs ;  and  the  idea  of  becoming  wife  to 
a  man  who  was  often  forced  to  fly  from  his  creditors, 
must  have  been  extremely  distasteful  to  a  woman 


258  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

used  to  luxury  and  consideration.  Maternal  affec- 
tion, love  of  her  country,  prudence,  social  and  worldly 
considerations — besides  the  fear  of  the  Czar's  dis- 
pleasure— were  all  inducements  to  delay;  and  even 
if  she  had  felt  towards  Balzac  the  passionate  love  for 
the  lack  of  which  posterity  has  reproached  her,  it 
surely  would  have  been  the  duty  of  an  affectionate 
mother  to  think  of  her  child's  welfare  before  her  own 
happiness.  Later  on,  when  Anna  was  married,  and 
Balzac,  broken  in  health  and  tortured  by  his  longings, 
was  kept  a  slave  to  Madame  Hanska's  caprices,  the 
hard  thing  may  be  said  of  her  that  she  was  in  part 
the  cause  of  the  death  of  the  man  she  pretended  to 
love.  In  1843,  however,  whatever  motives  incited  her, 
her  action  in  delaying  matters  appears  under  the  cir- 
cumstances to  have  been  right;  and  Balzac  seems  to 
have  felt  that  he  had  no  just  cause  for  complaint. 

He  wrote  to  Madame  Hanska  at  each  of  the  stop- 
ping-places during  his  tiring  overland  journey  back 
to  France,  and  describes  vividly  the  miserable,  jolting 
journey  through  Livonia,  where  the  carriage  road 
was  marked  out  by  boughs  thrown  down  in  the  midst 
of  a  sandy  plain,  and  all  around  was  depressing  pov- 
erty and  desolation.  Berlin,  peopled  with  Germans 
of  "  brutal  heaviness,"  he  detested,  and  he  loathed  the 
society  dinner  parties,  with  no  conversation — nothing 
but  tittle-tattle  and  Court  gossip ;  and  complained  of 
the  trains,  which  travelled,  he  said,  no  quicker  than  a 
French  diligence.  Nevertheless,  in  contrast  to  Rus- 
sia, the  great  voyant  was  struck  with  the  air  of  "  lib- 
erte  de  mceurs"  which  prevailed  throughout  Ger- 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  259 

many.  He  liked  Dresden,  and  enjoyed  his  visit  to 
its  picture  gallery,  where  he  especially  admired  a 
Madeleine  and  two  Virgins  by  Correggio,  as  well  as 
two  by  Raphael,  one  of  them  presumably  the  San 
Sisto  Madonna.  The  gem  of  the  whole  collection, 
however,  in  his  opinion,  was  Holbein's  Madonna;  and 
he  longed  to  have  Madame  Hanska's  hand  in  his  while 
he  gazed  at  it.  As  he  was  away  from  her,  he  was  very 
restless,  and  soon  tired  of  all  he  saw.  He  longed 
to  be  back  in  Paris,  and  to  find  distraction  in  his  work. 
"  Think  of  my  trouble,  my  sadness,  and  my  sorrow, 
and  you  will  be  full  of  pity  and  of  indulgence  for 
the  poor  exile,"  1  he  writes. 

*"Lettres  &  1'fitrangfcre." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

1843—1846 


Pamela  Giraud  " — Comte  Georges  Mniszech — "  Les  Pay  sans  " 

— Comtesse  Anna  engaged — Dispute  with  Emile  de 

Girardin — "  La  Cousine  Bette  "  and  "  Le 

Cousin  Pons" — Marriage  of  Comtesse 

Anna — Balzac    and    Madame 

Hanska  engaged 

ON  September  26th,  1843,  during  Balzac's  absence 
in  St.  Petersburg,  another  play  of  which  he  was 
author  was  produced  at  the  Gaite.  It  was  called 
"  Pamela  Giraud,"  and  the  plot  is  contrived  with  an 
ability  which  proves  Balzac's  increased  knowledge  of 
the  art  of  writing  for  the  theatre.  At  the  same  time 
he  has  attempted  no  innovations,  but  has  kept  to  the 
beaten  track;  and  the  play  is  an  old-fashioned  melo- 
drama with  thrilling  and  heart-rending  situations, 
and  virtue  triumphant  at  the  end.  Owing  to  Balzac's 
attack  on  journalism  in  the  "Monographic  de  la 
Presse  Parisienne,"  which  had  appeared  in  March, 
and  finished  with  the  words,  "  Si  la  presse  n'existait 
pas,  il  faudrait  ne  pas  1'inventer,"  the  whole  news- 
paper world  was  peculiarly  hostile  to  him  at  this  time, 
and  his  play  received  no  mercy,  and  was  a  failure. 
Curiously  enough,  Balzac  seemed  rather  pleased  at 

260 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  261 

this  news,  which  reached  him  at  Berlin,  on  his  journey 
home  to  France.  He  had  made  use  of  the  services 
of  two  practised  writers  for  the  theatre  to  fit  his 
melodrama  to  the  exigencies  of  the  stage,  and  possibly 
this  fact  dulled  his  interest  in  it.  At  any  rate  he  was 
strangely  philosophical  about  its  fate. 

On  November  28th,  1843,  soon  after  his  return  to 
Paris,  a  vacancy  was  left  in  the  Academy  by  the  death 
of  M.  Vincent  Campenon;  and  Charles  Nodier  and 
Victor  Hugo  proposed  Balzac  as  a  candidate  for  the 
empty  seat.  Balzac,  however,  soon  withdrew,  as  he 
found  that  his  impecunious  condition  would  be  a 
reason  for  his  rejection,  and  he  wrote  proudly  to 
Nodier  and  to  M.  de  Pongerville,  another  member  of 
the  Academy,  that  if  he  could  not  enter  L'Academie 
because  of  honourable  poverty,  he  would  never  pre- 
sent himself  at  the  doors  when  prosperity  was  his  por- 
tion. In  September,  1845,  another  vacancy  occurred; 
but  in  spite  of  Madame  Girardin's  entreaties  that 
Balzac  should  again  come  forward  as  a  candidate,  he 
refused  decidedly,  and  wrote  to  Madame  Hanska 
that  in  doing  this  he  knew  himself  to  be  consulting 
her  wishes. 

The  year  1844  was  not  an  unhappy  one  with  Balzac, 
though  his  health  was  bad,  and  he  speaks  of  terrible 
neuralgia ;  so  that  he  wrote  "  Les  Pay  sans  "  with  his 
head  in  opium,  as  he  had  written  "  Cesar  Birotteau  " 
with  his  feet  in  mustard.  Apparently  Madame 
Hanska  held  out  hopes  that  in  1845  his  long  proba- 
tion might  come  to  an  end,  as  he  writes:  "Days  of 
illness  are  days  of  pleasure  to  me,  for  when  I  do  not 


262  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

work  with  absorption  of  all  my  moral  and  physical 
qualities,  I  never  cease  thinking  of  1845.  I  arrange 
houses,  I  furnish  them,  I  see  myself  there,  and  I  am 
happy."1  It  was  a  joy  to  him  to  fulfil  Madame 
Hanska's  commissions,  and  thus  to  come  in  contact 
with  people  who  had  been  at  any  time  connected  with 
her.  Therefore,  in  spite  of  his  busy  life,  he  took 
much  trouble  over  the  arrangements  for  the  entrance 
of  Anna's  former  governess,  Mile.  Henriette  Borel, 
into  a  religious  house  in  Paris,  and  was  present  at  her 
reception  into  the  Couvent  de  la  Visitation,  Rue 
1'Enfer,  in  December,  1845.  He  was  rather  annoyed 
on  this  occasion,  as  he  was  working  tremendously 
hard  at  the  "  Comedie  Humaine,"  and  at  his  "  Petites 
Miseres  de  la  Vie  Conjugale,"  and  the  good  nuns, 
who  "  thought  the  world  turned  only  for  themselves," 
told  him  that  the  ceremony  would  take  place  at  one 
o'clock  and  would  last  an  hour,  whereas  it  was  not 
over  till  four,  and  as  he  had  to  see  Lirette  afterwards, 
he  could  not  get  away  till  half -past  five.  However, 
he  was  consoled  by  the  idea  that  he  was  representing 
his  dear  Countess  and  Anna,  who  were  in  Italy  at 
the  time,  and  he  thought  the  service  imposing  and 
very  dramatic.  He  was  specially  thrilled  when  the 
three  new  nuns  threw  themselves  on  the  ground,  were 
covered  with  a  pall,  while  prayers  for  the  dead  were 
recited  over  them ;  and  after  this  rose  up  crowned  with 
white  roses,  as  the  brides  of  Christ.  Lirette  was 
radiant  when  she  had  taken  the  veil,  and  wished  that 
every  one  would  enter  a  religious  house. 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  102. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  263 

In  July,  1844,  Madame  Hanska  and  her  daughter 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Comte  Georges  Mnis- 
zech,  who  appeared  a  very  suitable  parti  for  Anna. 
Balzac  naturally  took  a  keen  interest  in  all  the  pros- 
pective arrangements,  and  consulted  anxiously  with 
Madame  Hanska  about  the  young  Comte's  charac- 
ter, which  must  of  course  be  proved  perfect,  before 
a  treasure  like  the  young  Countess  could  be  confided 
to  his  keeping.  It  is  strikingly  characteristic  of  Bal- 
zac's disinterestedness,  that  though  he  knew  that  the 
young  Countess's  marriage  would  remove  the  princi- 
pal obstacle  between  him  and  Madame  Hanska,  he 
was  most  insistent  in  recommending  caution  till  the 
young  man  had  been  for  some  time  on  probation. 
However,  an  engagement  soon  took  place,  and  it 
seemed  as  though  the  great  desire  of  Balzac's  heart 
would  in  a  short  time  be  within  his  reach,  and  that 
happiness  would  shine  upon  him  at  last. 

In  1844  he  published  among  other  books  "  Modeste 
Mignon,"  "  Gaudissart  II.,"  a  fragment  of  the  first 
part  of  "L'Envers  de  L'Histoire  Contemporaine," 
which  he  entitled  "Madame  de  la  Chanterie,"  the 
end  of  the  first  part  of  "  Splendeurs  et  Miseres  des 
Courtisanes,"  the  third  and  last  part  of  "Beatrix," 
and  the  first  part  of  "  Les  Paysans."  This  began  to 
appear  in  La  Presse  on  December  3rd,  and  the  dis- 
putes about  its  publication  led  to  Balzac's  final  rup- 
ture with  Emile  de  Girardin. 

"Les  Paysans"  was  never  finished;  but  was  in- 
tended to  be  the  most  considerable,  as  it  is,  even  in  its 
present  fragmentary  condition,  one  of  the  most 


264  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

remarkable  of  Balzac's  novels.  For  eight  years  he 
had  at  intervals  started  on  the  composition  of  this 
vivid  picture  of  the  deep  under-current  of  struggle 
which  was  going  on  between  the  peasant  of  France 
and  the  bourgeoisie;  that  deadly  fight  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  soil  which  resulted,  as  the  great  voyant 
plainly  described  it  must,  in  the  Revolution  of 
1848,  and  the  victory  of  the  peasant.  Balzac  also 
intended  to  depict  the  demoralisation  of  the  people 
by  their  abandonment  of  the  Catholic  religion;  and 
the  novel,  in  emulation  of  Victor  Hugo  and  of 
Dumas,  was  to  fill  many  volumes.  The  first  version 
of  it,  entitled  "Le  Grand  Proprietaire,"  was  begun 
about  1835,  and  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Loven- 
joul,  in  his  interesting  book  entitled  "  La  Genese  d'un 
Roman  de  Balzac,"  gives  the  text  of  this,  the  MS. 
of  which  forms  part  of  his  collection.  About  the  year 
1836  or  1838  Balzac  altered  the  title  of  his  proposed 
novel  to  "  Qui  a  Terre,  a  Guerre,"  and  it  was  not  till 

1839  that  he  named  the  work  "Les  Paysans."     In 

1840  Balzac  offered  "Les  Paysans,"  which  he  said 
was  ready  to  appear  in  fifteen  days,  to  M.  Dujarier, 
the  manager  of  La  Presse,  and  received  1,650  francs 
in  advance  for  the  novel.    However,  in  1841  he  sub- 
stituted "  Les  Deux  Freres,"  which  was  the  first  part 
of  "La    Rabouilleuse,"    for  "Les    Paysans,"    and 
offered  the  latter  work  as  if  finished  to  Le  Messager 
and  also  to  the  publisher  Locquin,  under  the  title  of 
"  La  Chaumiere  et  le  Chateau." 

In  April,  1843,  Balzac  had  paid  back  part  of  his 
debt  to  La  Presse  by  publishing  "  Honorine  "  in  its 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  265 

columns,  but  in  September,  1844,  he  received  9,000 
francs  in  advance  for  the  still  unwritten  "Les 
Paysans."  It  was  further  arranged  that  when  this 
debt  had  been  worked  out,  he  should  be  given  sixty 
centimes  a  line  for  the  remainder  of  the  novel,  and 
that  La  Presse  should  pay  for  composition  and  cor- 
rections. It  will  be  noticed  that  Emile  de  Girardin, 
the  autocratic  chief  of  La  Presse,  had  at  last  wearied 
of  the  bickering  which  had  gone  on  between  him  and 
Balzac  ever  since  their  first  relations  in  1830,  and 
in  1840  had  handed  over  the  task  of  dealing  with  the 
aggravating  author  to  his  subordinate  Dujarier. 
The  treaty  concerning  "  Les  Paysans  "  was  therefore 
drawn  up  with  Dujarier,  and  matters  no  doubt  would 
have  proceeded  harmoniously,  had  not  the  latter  been 
killed  in  a  duel  in  March,  1845. 

The  first  number  of  "Les  Paysans"  appeared  on 
December  3rd,  1844,  and  then,  owing  to  a  most  un- 
toward concatenation  of  circumstances,  there  was  a 
long  pause  in  Balzac's  contributions  to  La  Presse. 
Madame  Hanska  had  unfortunately  decided  for  some 
time  that  she  would  in  1845  make  one  of  those  jour- 
neys which  more  than  anything  else  threw  Balzac  and 
his  affairs  into  inextricable  confusion.  Before  M. 
de  Hanski's  death,  however,  Balzac  was  at  any  rate 
welcomed  with  effusion  when,  in  his  longing  to  see 
Madame  Hanska,  he  left  his  affairs  in  Paris  to 
take  care  of  themselves.  In  those  early  days  she  was 
devotedly  attached  to  him;  besides,  an  adorer  was  a 
fashionable  appendage  for  an  elegant  married 
woman,  and  the  conquest  of  a  distinguished  man  of 


266  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

letters  like  Balzac  was  something  to  be  proud  of. 
Now,  however,  there  was  no  husband  as  a  protector 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world;  and  marriage,  a  marriage 
about  which  she  felt  many  qualms,  loomed  large 
before  her  startled  eyes.  She  had  no  intention  of 
giving  up  the  delightful  luxury  of  Balzac's  love; 
but  might  she  not  by  judicious  diplomacy,  she  some- 
times asked  herself,  manage  to  enjoy  this  without 
taking  the  last  irrevocable  step?  Her  position  was 
not  enviable,  the  state  of  feeling  embodied  in  the 
words  "she  would  and  she  wouldn't"  always  betok- 
ening in  the  subject  a  wearing  variability  of  mind 
posture;  but  compared  with  the  anguish  of  Balzac, 
whom  she  was  slowly  killing  by  her  vacillations,  her 
woes  do  not  deserve  much  sympathy. 

At  St.  Petersburg,  possibly  during  one  of  their 
walks  on  the  quay,  or  on  a  cosy  evening  when  the 
samovar  was  brought  up  at  nine  o'clock,  and  placed 
on  the  white  table  with  yellowish  lines — she  had  prom- 
ised Balzac  that  he  might  meet  her  next  year  at 
Dresden.  However,  when  she  arrived  there,  and 
found  herself  in  a  circle  of  her  own  relations,  who 
according  to  Balzac  poisoned  her  mind  against  him, 
she  not  only  objected  to  his  presence,  but,  in  her 
sudden  fear  of  gossip,  she  forbade  him  to  write  to 
her  again  during  her  stay  in  Dresden.  She  sent  off 
another  letter  almost  at  once,  contradicting  her  last 
command;  but  she  would  not  make  up  her  mind 
whether  Balzac  might  come  to  her  at  Dresden,  or 
whether  she  would  consent  to  meet  him  at  Frank- 
fort, or  whether  he  should  prepare  a  house  for  her 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  267 

and  Anna  in  Paris.  Balzac  could  settle  to  nothing. 
In  order  to  work  as  he  understood  the  word,  it 
was  necessary  that  he  should  exclude  all  outside  dis- 
turbing influence,  and  hear  only  the  voices  of  the 
world  where  Le  Pere  Goriot,  old  Grandet,  La  Cou- 
sine  Bette,  and  their  fellows,  toiled,  manoeuvred,  and 
suffered.  How  could  he  do  this,  how  could  he  even 
arrange  his  business  aif  airs,  when  a  letter  might  come 
by  any  post,  telling  him  to  start  at  once  and  meet  his 
beloved  one?  Precious  time  was  wasted,  never  to  be 
recalled;  and  when  Balzac,  raging  with  impatience 
and  irritation,  dared  very  gently,  and  with  words  of 
affection,  to  express  the  feelings  which  devoured  him, 
the  divinity  was  offended,  and  he  received  a  rebuke 
for  his  impatience  and  tone  of  authority. 

In  April,  1845,  he  writes:  "Shall  I  manage  to 
write  two  numbers  of  the  'Paysans'  in  twelve  days? 
That  is  the  problem,  for  I  have  not  a  single  line 
written.  Dresden  and  you,  between  you,  turn  my 
head ;  I  do  not  know  what  will  become  of  me.  There 
is  nothing  more  fatal  than  the  state  of  indecision  in 
which  you  have  kept  me  for  three  months.  If  I  had 
started  on  January  1st,  and  had  returned  on  February 
28th,  I  should  have  been  more  advanced  in  my  work, 
and  I  should  have  had  two  good  months,  like  the  ones 
at  St.  Petersburg.  Dear  sovereign  star,  how  do  you 
expect  me  to  conceive  an  idea  or  write  a  single  phrase, 
with  my  heart  and  head  agitated  as  they  have  been 
since  last  November?  It  has  been  enough  to  make  a 
man  mad!  In  vain  I  have  stuffed  myself  with 
coffee:  I  have  only  succeeded  in  increasing  the  ner- 


268  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

vous  trembling  of  my  eyes,  and  I  have  written 
nothing;  this  is  my  situation  to-day,  April  10th;  and 
I  have  La  Presse  behind  me,  sending  to  me  every  day, 
and  the  '  Paysans,'  which  is  my  first  long  work.  I  am 
between  two  despairs,  that  of  not  seeing  you,  of  not 
having  seen  you,  and  the  literary  and  financial  trouble, 
the  trouble  of  self-respect.  Oh,  Charles  II.  was 
quite  right  to  say:  ' But  she? '  in  all  the  affairs  sub- 
mitted to  him  by  his  ministers. 

"  I  can  only  write  you  this  word,  and  it  is  full  of 
sadness,  for  I  must  work  and  try  to  forget  you  for 
several  days,  to  belong  in  the  future  more  thoroughly 
and  surely  to  you.  It  is  noon ;  I  start  again  at  '  Les 
Paysans '  for  the  tenth  time,  and  all  the  muscles  in  my 
face  work  like  those  of  an  animal;  Nature  has  had 
enough  of  work — she  kicks  over  the  traces.  Ah !  why 
have  I  debts?  Why  must  I  work  whether  I  wish  to 
or  not  ?  I  am  so  unhappy,  so  tormented,  so  despond- 
ent, that  I  refuse  to  be  hopeless ;  you  must  surely  see 
that  I  am  more  than  ever  yours,  and  that  I  pass  my 
life  uselessly  away  from  you,  for  the  glory  gained  by 
inspired  work  is  not  worth  a  few  hours  passed  with 
you!  In  the  end  I  trust  only  in  God  and  in  you 
alone:  in  you  who  do  not  write  me  a  word  more  for 
that;  you  who  might  at  least  console  me  with  three 
letters  a  week,  and  who  hardly  write  me  two,  and 
those  so  short!"  1 

However,  on  April  18th  he  received  a  letter  from 
Madame  Hanska  containing  the  words,  "  I  wish  to 
see  you,"  and  rushed  off  at  once  to  Dresden,  oblivious 

1 "  Correspondence,"  vol.  ii.  p.  142. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  269 

of  everything  but  his  one  desire.  La  Presse  appar- 
ently submitted  to  this  interruption  philosophically. 
Its  readers  had  not  found  the  opening  of  "Les 
Paysans"  amusing,  while  Les  Moniteur  de  I'Armee 
had  strongly  and  rather  absurdly  objected  to  it,  as 
likely  to  lower  military  prestige.  La  Presse  had 
therefore  decided  in  any  case  to  put  off  the  appear- 
ance of  "Les  Paysans"  till  February,  and  to  begin 
the  year  1845  with  "La  Reine  Margot,"  by  Alex- 
andre  Dumas. 

Meanwhile  Balzac  was  having  a  delightful  time. 
Having  joined  Madame  Hanska  at  Dresden,  he 
travelled  with  her  and  the  Comtesse  Anna  and  Comte 
Georges  Mniszech,  who  had  lately  become  engaged, 
to  Cannstadt,  Carlsruhe,  and  Strasburg;  and  to  his 
intense  delight,  in  July,  the  Countess  and  her 
daughter  came  with  him  to  Passy,  and  took  up  their 
abode  in  a  little  house  near  the  Rue  Basse,  with  a 
carefully  chosen  housemaid,  cook,  and  a  man.  The 
Czar  had  prohibited  the  journey  to  France,  so  they 
travelled  incognito  as  Balzac's  sister  and  niece,  the 
Countess  Anna  taking  the  name  of  Eugenie,  per- 
haps in  remembrance  of  Balzac's  heroine  Eugenie 
Grandet.1  In  the  morning  they  went  by  cab  or  on 
foot  into  Paris,  and  in  the  evening  a  carriage  was  at 
their  disposal,  and  they  visited  the  theatre  and  the 
opera.  We  can  easily  realise  the  excitement  and  joy 
Balzac  felt  in  showing  them  all  his  treasures — the  bust 
by  David  D' Angers,  the  precious  Medici  furniture  of 

lc'La  Genese  d'un  Roman  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch 
de  Lovenjoul. 


270  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

ebony  encrusted  with  mother-of-pearl,  the  Cellini 
statuettes,  and  the  pictures  by  Giorgione,  Palma, 
Watteau,  and  Greuze. 

July  passed  quickly  in  this  mode  of  life,  Balzac 
acting  as  cicerone  to  the  two  ladies,  and  their  identity 
was  fortunately  not  discovered.  In  August  he  con- 
ducted them  as  far  as  Brussels  on  their  way  back  to 
Dresden,  and  together  they  visited  Fontainebleau, 
Orleans,  Bourges,  his  much-loved  Tours,  Blois,  Rot- 
terdam, La  Hague,  and  Antwerp.  At  Brussels  they 
were  met  by  M.  Georges  Mniszech,  who  took  charge 
of  the  two  Countesses  in  Balzac's  place.  The  latter 
felt  obliged  to  write  afterwards  to  the  Count  to 
apologise  for  his  cold  good-bye,  and  to  explain  that 
he  had  been  forced  to  assume  indifference,  because  he 
feared  a  complete  breakdown  unless  he  sternly  re- 
pressed all  appearance  of  feeling. 

However,  he  was  not  away  for  long  from  Madame 
Hanska,  as  he  spent  from  September  20th  till  Octo- 
ber 4th  with  her  at  Baden-Baden,  where  she  had  been 
ordered  for  a  course  of  the  waters.  The  time  there 
was  the  happiest  in  his  life,  as  it  seemed  to  him  that 
he  could  now  plainly  see  a  picture  of  the  future,  which 
he  prayed  for  and  dreamed  of  in  the  midst  of  his 
crushing  work. 

On  October  16th,  1845,  he  left  Paris  again,  met 
Madame  Hanska,  her  daughter,  and  prospective  son- 
in-law  at  Chalons,  and  started  with  them  on  their 
Italian  tour.  It  took  a  day  to  travel  by  boat  from 
Chalons  to  Lyons,  and  another  day  to  go  by  boat 
from  Lyons  to  Avignon;  but  the  time  flew  for 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  271 

Madame  Hanska  and  Balzac,  who  were  engrossed  all 
the  way  in  delightful  talk.  They  arrived  at  Mar- 
seilles on  October  29th,  and  stayed  for  two  nights  at 
the  Hotel  d'Orient,  where  Balzac's  friend  Mery  had 
secured  rooms  for  them.  They  then  went  by  sea  to 
Naples,  and  there  Balzac  worked  so  hard  at  sight-see- 
ing, saw  so  much,  and  talked  so  volubly,  that  he  was 
quite  exhausted.  He  remained  a  few  days  only  at 
Naples,  and  had  a  very  tiring  journey  back,  as  the  sea 
was  extremely  rough ;  and  when  he  reached  Marseilles 
Mery  insisted  on  taking  him  into  society,  so  that  he 
had  no  opportunity  of  resting  even  there.  It  was 
altogether  a  very  expensive  journey.  He  could  not 
drink  water  on  board  the  boat  coming  home,  and 
therefore  was  obliged  to  quench  his  thirst  with  cham- 
pagne; and  as  the  captain  and  the  steward  showed 
him  extraordinary  politeness,  they  had  also  to  be  given 
champagne,  and  invited  to  a  lunch  party  at  the  Hotel 
d'Orient  when  the  ship  arrived  at  Marseilles.  Balzac 
wras  evidently  rather  ashamed  of  this  escapade,  and 
begged  Madame  Hanska  not  to  let  Georges  know 
anything  of  his  extravagance,  as  he  would  be  certain 
to  make  fun  of  it. 

The  bric-a-brac  shops  at  Marseilles  were  another 
terrible  cause  of  temptation,  and  one  to  which  Balzac 
apparently  succumbed  without  a  struggle,  consoling 
himself  with  the  reflection  that  his  purchases  were 
"  de  vraies  occasions  a  saisir." 

When  he  arrived  at  Passy  on  November  17th,  and 
retired  to  bed  with  an  attack  of  fever  as  the  result  of 
all  his  fatigues,  he  might  be  expected  to  feel  slightly 


272  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

depressed  at  the  thought  of  the  time  he  had  wasted 
during  the  last  few  months,  and  of  his  small  advance 
in  the  work  of  paying  off  his  debts.  As  far  as  we  can 
judge,  however,  these  were  not  his  reflections.  He 
was  dreaming  of  the  past  year,  the  happiest  year  of 
his  life,  because  so  much  of  it  had  been  spent  with 
Madame  Hanska ;  and  when  his  mind  turned  to  more 
practical  subjects,  he  thought  of  various  projects  for 
buying  the  house  which  was  to  be  their  future  home, 
and  of  the  way  it  should  be  decorated.  His  mind 
dwelt  constantly  on  these  preparations  for  his  married 
life;  and  he  continued  to  correspond  with  Mery,  and 
to  entrust  him  with  delicate  commissions  which  re- 
quired much  bargaining.  At  this  Mery  was  not, 
according  to  his  own  account,  very  successful,  as  he 
remarked  in  an  amusing  letter  to  Balzac:  "I  call  to 
witness  all  the  marble  false  gods  which  decorate  La- 
zardo's  dark  museum.  I  have  neglected  nothing  to 
succeed  with  your  message.  I  have  paid  indolent 
visits,  I  have  taken  the  airs  of  a  bored  '  agathophile,' 
I  have  turned  my  back  on  the  objects  of  your  desire. 
All  my  efforts  have  been  in  vain.  They  obstinately 
continue  to  ask  fabulous  prices." 

In  February,  1845,2  Balzac  had  written  cheerfully 
about  the  30,000  francs  for  "  Les  Paysans  "  which  he 
would  obtain  from  the  publisher,  and  the  10,000  from 
the  journal;  of  the  15,000  francs  which  would  come  to 
him  from  "La  Comedie  Humaine,"  and  the  30,000 

1  Letters  from  the  collection  of  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Loven- 
joul,  published  in  the  Revue  Bleue  of  December  5th,  1903. 
a  "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  123. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  273 

from  the  sale  of  Les  Jardies,  besides  10,000  francs 
from  his  other  works,  and  20,000  from  the  railway  du 
Nord;  and  had  calculated  that  his  most  pressing 
liabilities  would  soon  be  discharged.  His  figures  and 
computations  on  the  subject  of  money  can  never  be 
relied  on,  and  the  railway  du  Nord  was  a  most  un- 
fortunate speculation,  and  proved  a  constant  drain 
on  his  resources.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
he  was  beginning  to  diminish  perceptibly  the  burden 
of  debt  which  pressed  upon  him,  and  that  if  Madame 
Hanska  had  not  existed,  and  if  on  the  other  hand  he 
had  not  himself  embarked  on  some  mad  scheme  or 
senseless  piece  of  extravagance,  he  might  in  a  few 
years  have  become  a  free  man.  These  long  months 
of  expensive  inaction  rendered  this  happy  solution  to 
the  troubles  of  his  life  impossible. 

Meanwhile  fresh  misfortunes  were  gathering.  On 
November  27th,  1845,  Emile  de  Girardin,  who  since 
Dujarier's  death  had  resumed  business  relations  with 
Balzac,  addressed  him  a  most  discourteous  letter.  He 
apparently  disbelieved  in  the  terms  of  the  agreement 
by  which  the  great  writer  was  to  be  paid  sixty  centimes 
a  line  for  "  Les  Paysans,"  and  demanded  a  certified 
copy  of  it;1  and  he  also  announced  that  for  "Les 
Petites  Miseres  de  la  Vie  Conjugale,"  which  was 
about  to  appear  in  the  Revue,  he  could  not  pay  more 
than  forty  centimes,  which  was,  he  said,  his  maximum 
price  to  contributors.  Later  on,  in  March,  1846, 

1HLa  Genese  d'un  Roman  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoel- 
berch  de  Lovenjoul  (from  which  the  whole  account  of  the  dispute  be- 
tween Balzac  and  £mile  de  Girardin  is  taken). 


274  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

Girardin  despatched  another  message  to  complain  of 
the  delay  in  continuing  "Les  Paysans,"  and  in  this 
he  remarked  with  bitter  emphasis  that  as  La  Presse 
paid  so  highly  for  what  was  published  in  her  pages, 
she  had  at  least  the  right  of  objecting  to  being  treated 
lightly.  Balzac  replied  on  March  16th,  1846,  that  he 
was  the  one  who  ought  to  bear  malice,  as  Dujarier  had 
upset  his  arrangements  by  interrupting  the  publica- 
tion of  "  Les  Paysans  "  to  substitute  "  La  Reine  Mar- 
got,"  by  Dumas,  and  that  now  his  brain  required  rest, 
and  that  he  was  starting  that  very  day  for  a  month's 
holiday  in  Rome. 

If  Balzac  had  remained  in  France  it  is  doubtful 
whether  he  would  have  written  much,  as  he  had  been 
in  a  miserably  unsettled  state  all  the  winter  of  1845 
to  1846.  His  health  was  bad:  he  mentions  continual 
colds  and  neuralgia,  and  on  one  occasion  remarks  that 
owing  to  complete  exhaustion  he  has  slept  all  through 
the  day.  Besides  this,  his  suspense  about  Madame 
Hanska's  ultimate  decision  made  him  absolutely 
wretched.  He  writes  to  her  on  December  17th,  1845 : 
"Nothing  amuses  me,  nothing  distracts  me,  nothing  . 
animates  me;  it  is  the  death  of  the  soul,  the  death  of 
the  will,  the  weakening  of  the  whole  being ;  I  feel  that 
I  can  only  take  up  my  work  again  when  I  see  my  life 
determined,  fixed,  arranged."  *  Later  on  in  the  same 
letter  he  says:  "  I  am  crushed;  I  have  waited  too  long, 
I  have  hoped  too  much;  I  have  been  too  happy  this 
year,  and  I  do  not  want  anything  else.  After  so 
many  years  of  misfortune  and  of  work,  to  have  been 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  200. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  275 

free  as  a  bird,  superhumanly  happy,  and  to  return  to 
one's  cell!  ...  is  it  possible?  ...  I  dream;  I  dream 
by  day  and  by  night,  and  the  thought  of  the  heart 
driven  back  on  itself  prevents  all  action  of  the  thought 
of  the  brain ;  it  is  terrible ! " 

On  one  occasion  Madame  Hanska  wrote  apparently 
reproaching  him  with  talking  indiscreetly  about  her; 
and  without  finishing  the  letter,  the  end  of  which  was 
affectionate,  and  would  have  calmed  his  mind,  he  at 
once  jumped  out  of  the  cab  in  which  he  was  driving, 
and  walked  for  hours  about  Paris.  He  was  wearing 
thin  shoes,  and  there  were  two  inches  of  snow  on  the 
ground;  but  his  agitation  was  so  great  at  her  unjust 
accusations,  and  his  indignation  so  fierce  at  the 
wickedness  of  the  people  who  had  libelled  him,  that  he 
hardly  knew  where  he  was  going,  and  returned  at  last, 
still  so  excited  by  the  anguish  of  his  mind,  that  he  was 
not  conscious  of  bodily  fatigue.  Such  crises,  and  the 
consequent  exhaustion  afterwards,  were  not  condu- 
cive to  work;  particularly  in  a  man  whose  heart  was 
already  affected,  and  who  had  overstrained  his  powers 
for  years. 

Possibly  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  distraction  and 
relief  from  the  anxious  misery  of  thought,  he  went 
into  society  more  than  usual  this  year;  and  in  spite  of 
the  strained  relations  between  him  and  Simile  de  Gi- 
rardin,  he  often  dined  at  the  editor's  house,  and  was  on 
most  friendly  terms  with  Madame  de  Girardin.  On 
January  1st,  1846,  he  wrote  to  Madame  Hanska,  "  I 
dined,  as  I  told  you  in  my  last  letter,  with  Nestor 
Roqueplan,  the  director  of  the  Theatre  des  Varietes, 


276  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

the  last  Wednesday  of  December,  and  the  last  day  of 
the  month  with  the  illustrious  Delphine.  We  laughed 
as  much  as  I  can  laugh  without  you,  and  far  from 
you.  Delphine  is  really  the  queen  of  conversation; 
that  evening  she  was  especially  sublime,  brilliant, 
charming.  Gautier  was  there  as  well;  I  left  after 
having  a  long  talk  with  him.  He  said  that  there  was 
no  hurry  for  *  Richard,  Coeur  d'Eponge ' ;  the  theatre 
is  well  provided  at  present.  Perhaps  Gautier  and  I 
will  write  the  piece  together  later  on."  1 

Balzac's  mind  was  still  running  on  the  theatre. 
Owing  to  failing  health  and  to  his  unfortunate  love 
affair,  he  now  found  it  more  difficult  to  concentrate 
his  mind  than  formerly,  and  the  incessant  work  of 
earlier  years  was  no  longer  possible;  so  that  the  easy 
road  to  fortune  offered  by  a  successful  play  became 
doubly  attractive.  "Richard,  Coeur  d'Eponge," 
however,  never  appeared;  and  except  several  frag- 
ments, which  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Vicomte  de 
Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul,  it  is  doubtful  whether  it 
was  written,  though  Balzac  often  discussed  the  plot 
with  Gautier. 

What,  after  all,  were  novels,  essays,  or  plays,  of 
wThat  interest  were  scenes,  plots,  or  characters,  what 
was  fame,  what  was  art  itself,  compared  with  Madame 
Hanska?  How  was  it  possible  for  a  man  to  work, 
with  the  gloriously  disquieting  prospect  before  him 
that  in  so  many  months,  weeks,  days,  he  should  meet 
his  divinity?  The  phantoms  of  his  imagination  faded 
to  insignificance,  and  then  to  utter  nullity,  beside  the 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  212. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  277 

woman  of  flesh  and  blood,  the  one  real  object  in  a 
world  of  shadows.  On  March  17th,  1846,  he  started 
on  his  journey  to  Rome,  and  everything  became  a 
blank,  except  the  intoxicating  thought  that  each  hour 
diminished  the  distance  between  him  and  the  woman 
he  loved.  She  evidently  received  him  with  enthusi- 
asm, and  showed  so  much  affection,  that  though 
nothing  definite  was  settled,  he  felt  that  her  ultimate 
decision  to  marry  him  was  certain;  and  was  only  de- 
ferred to  a  more  convenient  season,  when  her  daughter 
Anna  should  have  become  La  Comtesse  Mniszech. 
Therefore  the  whole  world  brightened  for  him,  and 
he  became  again  full  of  life  and  vigour.  He  stayed 
for  a  month  in  the  Eternal  City,  was  presented  to  the 
Pope,  admired  St.  Peter's  extremely,  and  said  that  he 
would  revisit  Rome  next  winter,  and  that  his  time 
there  would  for  ever  remain  one  of  the  greatest  and 
most  beautiful  recollections  of  his  life.  As  the  route 
by  sea  was  crowded  by  travellers  who  had  spent  Holy 
Week  in  Rome,  and  all  wanted  to  return  at  the  same 
time,  he  travelled  back  by  Switzerland;  and  explored 
fresh  country  and  hunted  for  curiosities  on  the  way. 
Several  pictures  were  to  follow  him  from  Italy:  a 
Sebastian  del  Piombo,  a  Bronzino,  and  a  Mirevelt, 
which  he  describes  as  of  extreme  beauty ;  and  with  his 
usual  happy  faith  in  his  own  good  luck,  he  hoped  to 
pick  up  some  other  bargains  such  as  "  Hobbemas 
and  Holbeins  for  a  few  crowns,"  in  the  towns  through 
which  he  would  pass  on  his  journey.  A  definite  en- 
gagement did  not  take  place  till  some  months  later; 
but  some  tacit  understanding  must  now  have  been 


278  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

allowed  by  Madame  Hanska,  as  there  begin  to  appear 
from  this  time  in  Balzac's  letters  exact  descriptions  of 
the  Sevres  china,  the  inlaid  furniture,  and  the  bric-a- 
brac,  which  he  was  buying  evidently  with  her  money 
as  well  as  his  own,  to  adorn  their  future  home  to- 
gether. As  usual,  on  his  return  he  found  his  affairs 
in  utter  confusion,  was  pursued  by  creditors,  and  was 
absolutely  without  money.  As  a  last  misfortune,  his 
housekeeper,  Madame  de  Brugnolle,  in  whose  name 
the  habitation  at  Passy  had  been  rented,  and  who 
generally  managed  his  business  affairs,  was  busy  pre- 
paring for  her  approaching  marriage,  and  had  nat- 
urally no  time  to  spare  for  her  supposed  lodger's 
difficulties.  Altogether  Balzac  felt  that  the  world 
was  a  harassing  place. 

However,  his  health  was  admirable,  "et  le  talent! 
.  .  .  oh!  je  1'ai  retrouve  dans  sa  fleur!"1  He  wras 
full  of  hope  and  confidence;  and  although  the  shares 
of  the  railway  du  Nord  continued  to  fall  in  value,  he 
considered  that  with  steady  work  at  his  novels,  and 
with  the  help  of  a  successful  comedy,  he  would  soon 
have  paid  off  his  debts,  and  would  have  a  little  house 
of  his  own,  with  room  for  his  beautiful  things ;  which, 
owing  to  want  of  space,  and  also  to  fear  of  his 
creditors,  were  never  unpacked.  It  was  necessary  to 
prove  that  he  was  as  young,  as  fresh,  and  as  fertile 
as  ever,  and  with  this  object  in  view,  in  June,  1846,  he 
began  the  two  books  which  were  to  form  the  series  en- 
titled "  L'Histoire  des  Parents  Pauvres."  The  first, 
"  La  Cousine  Bette,"  appeared  in  the  Constitutionnel 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  239. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  279 

from  October  to  December,  1846,  and  is  intended  to 
represent  "  a  poor  relation  oppressed  by  humiliations 
and  injuries,  -living  in  the  midst  of  three  or  four 
families  of  her  relations,  and  meditating  vengeance 
for  the  bruising  of  her -amour-propre,  and  for  her 
wounded  vanity!"  The  second  received  several 
names  in  turn.  It  was  first  called  "  Le  Vieux  Musi- 
cien,"  next  "Le  Bonhomme  Pons,"  and  then  "Le 
Parasite,"  a  title  on  which  Balzac  said  he  had  decided 
definitely.  However,  Madame  Hanska  objected,  as 
she  declared  that  "  Le  Parasite  "  was  only  suitable  for 
an  eighteenth  century  comedy,  and  the  book  appeared 
in  April,  1847,  as  "Le  Cousin  Pons."  Though  in- 
tensely tragic,  it  is  not  as  horrible  or  revolting  as  its 
pendant,  the  gloomy  "  Cousine  Bette  " ;  and  Balzac 
has  portrayed  admirably  the  simple  old  man  with  his 
fondness  for  good  dinners;  "the  poor  relation  op- 
pressed by  humiliations  and  injuries,  pardoning  all, 
and  only  revenging  himself  by  doing  kindnesses." 
Side  by  side  with  him  is  the  touching  figure  of  his 
faithful  friend  Schmucke,  the  childlike  German  musi- 
cian, who  dies  of  grief  at  the  death  of  Pons.  In 
writing  these  two  remarkable  books,  his  last  important 
works,  Bajzac  proved  conclusively  that  his  hand  had 
not  lost  its  cunning,  and  that  the  slow  rate  of  literary 
production  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  was 
caused  by  his  unhappy  circumstances,  and  not  by  any 
failure  in  his  genius. 

After  all,  the  year  1846  ended  for  him  with  agita- 
tion which  increased  his  heart  disease.     His  beloved 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  243. 


280  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

trio,  whom  he  had  christened  the  "  troupe  Bilboquet," 
after  the  vaudeville  "Les  Saltimbanques,"  had  now 
moved  to  Wiesbaden;  and  thither  their  faithful  "  Bil- 
boquet,"  the  "vetturino  per  amore,"  as  Madame  de 
Girardin  laughingly  called  him,  rushed  to  meet  them. 
He  found  "notre  grande  et  chere  Atala"  rather 
crippled  with  rheumatism,  and  not  able  to  take  the 
exercise  which  was  necessary  for  her,  but  in  his  eyes 
as  beautiful  as  ever.  The  "gentille  Zephiririe," 
otherwise  the  Countess  Anna,  was  gay,  charming, 
and  beautifully  dressed;  and  "  Gringalet,"  the  Count, 
was  completely  occupied — when  not  making  love— 
with  his  collection  of  insects,  on  which  he  spent  large 
sums.  About  this  collection  Balzac  made  many 
rather  heavy  jokes,  calling  the  Count  a  "  Gringalet 
sphynx-lepidoptere-coleoptere-ante-diluvien,"  1  but  in 
an  anxious  desire  to  ingratiate  himself  with  Madame 
Hanska's  family,  he  often  despatched  magnificent 
specimens  of  the  insect  species  from  Paris  to  add  to  it. 

Balzac  travelled  about  a  little  with  the  Hanski 
family,  and  remained  with  them  till  September  15th, 
when  he  was  obliged  to  go  back  to  Paris.  Either 
at  this  time,  or  when  he  returned  for  the  wedding  of 
the  Comtesse  Anna  and  the  Comte  Georges  Mniszech, 
which  took  place  at  Wiesbaden  on  October  13th, 
1846,  a  secret  engagement  was  contracted  between, 
him  and  Madame  Hanska. 

He  was  now  terribly  anxious  that  there  should  be 
no  further  delay  about  his  marriage,  and  on  his  way 
back  from  Germany  on  one  of  these  two  occasions, 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  287. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  281 

he  applied  to  M.  Germeau,  then  prefect  of  Metz,1 
who  had  been  at  school  with  him  at  Vendome,  to  know 
whether  the  necessary  formalities  could  be  abridged, 
so  that  the  wedding  might  take  place  at  once.  This 
was  impossible ;  and  though  the  great  obstacle  to  their 
union  was  now  removed,  Madame  Hanska  refused  to 
be  parted  from  her  beloved  daughter,  and  insisted  on 
accompanying  the  newly  married  couple  on  their 
honeymoon.  Her  determination  caused  Balzac  ter- 
rible agony  of  mind,  as  she  was  unwell,  and  was 
suffering  a  great  deal  at  the  time,  and  he  therefore 
wished  her  to  remain  quietly  somewhere  in  France; 
moreover,  despair  seized  him  at  her  hesitation  to  be- 
come his  wife,  when  the  course  at  last  seemed  clear. 
His  trouble  at  this  time  appears  to  have  had  a  serious 
effect  on  his  health,  and  some  words  spoken  half  in 
malice,  half  in  warning  by  Madame  de  Girardin,  must 
have  sounded  like  a  knell  in  his  ears.  He  tells  them 
apparently  in  jest  to  Madame  Hanska  to  give  her  an 
example  of  the  nonsense  people  talk  in  Paris.  In  his 
accuracy  of  repetition,  however,  we  can  trace  a  pas- 
sionately anxious  desire  to  force  Madame  Hanska 
herself  to  deny  the  charges  brought  against  her;  and 
perhaps  lurking  behind  this,  a  wish  unacknowledged 
even  to  himself,  to  shame  her  if — even  after  all  that 
had  passed — she  were  really  not  in  earnest. 

He  says:  "Madame  de  Girardin  told  me  that  she 
heard  from  a  person  who  knew  you  intimately,  that 
you  were  extremely  flattered  by  my  homage;  that 

'See    "Une    Page    Perdue   de   Honor6   de    Balzac,"   p.    276,   by   the 
Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


282  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

from  vanity  and  pride  you  made  me  come  wherever 
you  went;  that  you  were  very  happy  to  have  a  man 
of  genius  as  courier,  but  that  your  social  position  was 
too  high  to  allow  me  to  aspire  to  anything  else.  And 
then  she  began  to  laugh  with  an  ironical  laugh,  and 
told  me  that  I  was  wasting  my  time  running  after 
great  ladies,  only  to  fail  with  them.  Hein!  Isn't 
that  like  Paris!"1 

The  reader  of  Balzac's  life  is  forced  to  the  sad  con- 
clusion that  Parisian  gossip  had  on  this  occasion 
sketched  the  situation  tolerably  correctly;  though  the 
truth  of  the  picture  was  no  doubt  denied  with  much 
indignation  by  Madame  Hanska. 

1 "  Correspondancej"  vol.  ii.  p.  295. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

1846—1848 


Balzac  buys  a   house — Madame    Hanska's    visit    to  Paris — Final 

breach  with  Emile  de  Girardin — Projects  for  writing  for 

the  theatre — Goes  to  Wierzchownia — Returns  to 

Paris  at  the  eve  of  the  Revolution  of  1848 — 

Stands  for  last  time  as  deputy 

MUCH  of  Balzac's  time,  whenever  he  was  in  Paris  in 
1845  and  1846,  was  taken  up  with  house-hunting;  and 
some  of  his  still  unpublished  letters  to  Madame 
Hanska  contain  long  accounts  of  the  advantages  of 
the  different  abodes  he  had  visited.  He  was  now 
most  anxious  to  be  permanently  settled,  as  there  was 
no  room  for  his  art  treasures  in  the  Rue  Basse ;  but  as 
Madame  Hanska's  tastes  had  to  be  consulted  as  well 
as  his  own,  it  was  necessary  to  be  very  careful  in  his 
choice.  However,  in  October,  1846,  he. at  last  found 
something  which  he  thought  would  be  suitable.  This 
was  the  villa  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  the 
financier  Beau j  on,  in  the  Rue  Fortunee,  now  the  Rue 
Balzac.  The  house  was  not  large,  it  was  what  might 
now  be  described  as  a  "  bijou  residence,"  but  though 
out  of  repair,  it  had  been  decorated  with  the  utmost 
magnificence  by  Beau  j  on,  and  Balzac's  discriminating 
eye  quickly  discerned  its  aesthetic  possibilities. 

283 


284  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

In  front  of  the  house  was  a  long  narrow  court- 
yard, the  pavement  of  which  was  interrupted  here  and 
there  by  flower-beds.  This  courtyard  was  bordered 
by  a  wall,  and  above  the  wall  nothing  could  be  seen 
from  the  road  but  a  cupola,  which  formed  the  domed 
ceiling  of  the  financier's  boudoir.  Some  of  the  inside 
adornments  possessed  a  delightful  fitness  for  the  uses 
to  which  they  were  destined.  For  instance,  what 
could  have  been  a  more  graceful  compliment  to  the 
Mniszechs  than  to  lodge  them  during  their  visits  to 
Paris,  which  would  of  course  be  frequent,  in  a  set  of 
rooms  painted  with  brilliant  exotic  butterflies,  poised 
lightly  on  lovely  flowers?  Apparently  foreseeing,  as 
Balzac  remarks,  that  a  " Lepidopterian  Georges" 
would  at  some  time  inhabit  the  mansion,  Beaujon  had 
actually  provided  a  beautiful  bedroom  and  a  little 
drawing-room  decorated  in  this  way.1  It  seemed 
quite  providential! 

Balzac  was  very  happy  superintending  the  build- 
ing operations,  deciding  exactly  where  his  different 
treasures  would  look  best  in  his  new  abode,  and  hunt- 
ing for  fresh  acquisitions  to  make  every  detail  perfect. 
Later  on,  his  letters  from  Russia  to  his  mother  when 
she  was  taking  charge  of  the  house — then  furnished 
and  decorated — show  how  dearly  he  loved  all  his 
household  gods,  and  how  well  he  was  acquainted  with 
their  peculiarities;  how  he  realised  the  danger,  unless 
it  were  held  by  the  lower  part,2  of  moving  the  green- 
ish-grey china  vase  with  crackled  glaze,  which  was  to 
stand  on  one  of  the  consoles  in  black  wood  and  Buhl 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  289. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  337. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  285 

marqueterie;  and  how  he  thought  anxiously  about 
the  candle  ornaments  of  gilt  crystal,  which  were  only 
to  be  arranged  after  the  candelabra  had  been  put  up 
in  the  white  drawing-room.  In  1846  and  1847  his 
letters  are  instinct  with  the  passion  of  the  confirmed 
collector,  who  has  no  thought  beyond  his  bric-a-bric. 
His  excitement  is  intense  because  Madame  Hanska 
has  discovered  that  a  tea  service  in  his  possession  is 
real  Watteau,  and  because  he  has  had  the  "  incredible 
good  fortune  "  to  find  a  milk  jug  and  a  sugar  basin 
to  match  it  exactly.  When  we  remember  that  the 
man  who  thus  expresses  his  delight  was  in  the  act  of 
writing  "Les  Parents  Pauvres,"  and  of  evoking 
scenes  of  touching  pathos  and  gloomy  horror,  we  are 
once  more  amazed  at  the  extraordinary  versatility  of 
Balzac's  mind  and  genius. 

The  deep  thinker,  the  pessimistic  believer  in  the 
omnipotence  of  vice  and  in  the  helpless  suffering  of 
virtue,  who  drags  to  light  what  is  horrible  from  among 
the  dregs  of  the  people,  seems  to  have  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  the  charming,  playful  figure  of  "  le  vieux 
Bilboquet,"  who  gave  Madame  Hanska's  daughter 
and  her  son-in-law  a  big  place  in  his  heart,  and  was 
never  jealous  when,  avowedly  for  their  sakes,  his 
wishes,  feelings,  and  health  were  unconsidered ;  whose 
servants,  hard- worked  though  they  were,  adored  him ; 
and  who  never  forgot  his  friends,  or  failed  to  help 
them  when  adversity  fell  upon  them. 

At  the  beginning  of  1847  peace  for  a  time  visited 
Balzac's  restless  spirit.  In  February  he  went  to  Ger- 
many to  fetch  Madame  Hanska,  and  leaving  the 


286  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

Mniszechs  to  go  back  alone  to  Wierzchownia,  she 
travelled  with  him  to  Paris,  and  remained  there  till 
April.  It  is  significant,  as  the  Vicomte  de  Spoel- 
berch  de  Lovenjoul  remarks,1  that  during  the  time 
of  her  stay  in  Paris,  when  Balzac's  mind  was  no 
longer  disturbed  by  his  constant  longing  to  see  her,  he 
accomplished  the  last  serious  bout  of  work  in  his  life, 
beginning  the  "Depute  D'Arcis"  in  L'Union,  "La 
Cousine  Bette  "  in  the  Constitutionnel,,  and  "  La  Der- 
niere  Incarnation  de  Vautrin  "  in  La  Presse. 

He  had  other  duties  at  the  same  time,  being  oc- 
cupied with  what  he  calls  the  most  beautiful  work  of 
his  life,  that  of  preventing  "  a  mother  separated  from 
so  adorable  a  child  as  her  Grace  the  Countess  Georges, 
from  dying  of  grief."  He  writes  to  the  Mniszechs  on 
February  27th,  1847 :2  "  Our  dear  adored  Atala  is  in 
a  charming  and  magnificent  apartment  (and  not  too 
dear).  She  has  a  garden;  she  goes  a  great  deal  to 
the  convent "  (to  see  Mile.  Henriette  Borel) .  "  I  try 
to  distract  her  and  to  be  as  much  as  possible  Anna  to 
her ;  but  the  name  of  her  dear  daughter  is  so  daily  and 
continually  upon  her  lips,  that  the  day  before  yester- 
day, when  she  was  enjoying  herself  immensely  at  the 
Varietes — in  fits  of  laughter  at  the  '  Filleul  de  Tout 
le  Monde,'  acted  by  Bouffe  and  Hyacinthe — in  the 
midst  of  her  gaiety,  she  asked  herself  in  a  heartbroken 
voice,  which  brought  tears  to  my  eyes,  how  she  could 
laugh  and  amuse  herself  like  this,  without  her 
'  dear  little  one.'  I  allow,  dear  Zephirine,  that  I  took 

1 "  La  Genfcse  d'un  Roman  de  Balzac,"  p.  194. 
* "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  312. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  287 

the  liberty  of  telling  her  that  you  were  amusing  your- 
self enormously  without  her,  with  your  lord  and  mas- 
ter, His  Majesty  the  King  of  the  Coleoptera;  that  I 
was  sure  that  you  were  at  this  time  one  of  the  happiest 
women  in  the  world;  and  I  hope  that  Gringalet,  on 
whom  I  drew  this  bill  of  exchange,  will  not  contradict 
me.  I  have  four  tolerably  strong  attractions  to  bring 
forward  against  the  thought  of  you:  1st,  the  Conser- 
vatoire; 2nd,  the  Opera;  3rd,  the  Italian  Opera;  4th, 
the  Exhibition." 

Balzac's  hands  were  certainly  pleasantly  full  at  this 
time.  His  power  of  writing,  which  had  temporarily 
deserted  him,  seemed  now  to  have  returned  in  full 
vigour;  and  he  had  made  forty  or  fifty  thousand 
francs  in  three  months,  so  was  hopeful  of  paying  off 
his  debts,  a  point  on  which  Madame  Hanska  wisely 
laid  much  stress.  She  still  refused  to  decide  any- 
thing definitely  about  the  date  of  their  marriage ;  but 
the  house  was  to  a  great  extent  her  property,  and  at 
this  time  she  identified  herself  completely  with  Balzac 
in  all  the  arrangements  to  do  with  it.  Though  he 
kept  on  his  rooms  in  the  Rue  Basse  and  left  his  effects 
there,  he  moved  in  April,  1847,  to  the  Rue  Fortunee, 
that  he  might  be  better  able  to  superintend  the  build- 
ing and  decorating,  and  might  himself  keep  watch 
over  his  treasures,  which  must  gradually  be  unpacked 
and  bestowed  to  the  best  advantage.  About  the 
middle  of  April  he  conducted  Madame  Hanska  to 
Forbach  on  her  way  back  to  Wierzchownia,  and  him- 
self returned  to  Paris  to  finish  the  house,  put  his 
affairs  in  order,  and  then  follow  her  to  Wierzchownia. 


288  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

There  he  hoped  the  wedding  would  quickly  take  place, 
and  that  Monsieur  and  Madame  Honore  de  Balzac 
would  return  to  Paris,  and  would  live  to  a  ripe  old 
age  in  married  happiness;  he  writing  many  master- 
pieces, she  helping  with  advice,  and  forming  a  salon 
where  her  social  position,  cleverness,  and  charm  would 
surround  her  with  the  highest  in  the  land.  The  pros- 
pect was  intoxicating;  surely  no  one  was  ever  so  near 
the  attainment  of  his  most  radiant  visions! 

On  Balzac's  return  to  Paris,  however,  he  was  con- 
fronted by  realities  of  the  most  terrible  nature. 

When  he  arrived  at  the  Rue  Basse,  he  found  to  his 
horror  that  the  lock  of  his  precious  casket  had  been 
forced,  and  some  of  Madame  Hanska's  letters  had 
been  extracted.  It  was  a  case  of  blackmail,  as  the 
thief  demanded  30,000  francs,  in  default  of  which 
the  letters  would  at  once  be  handed  over  to  the  Czar. 
If  this  were  to  happen,  Balzac's  hopes  of  happiness 
were  annihilated,  and  the  consequences  to  Madame 
Hanska  would  be  even  more  serious.  Unless  ap- 
proached with  the  utmost  caution,  the  Czar  would  cer- 
tainly refuse  his  consent  to  the  marriage  of  a  Russian 
subject  with  a  foreigner,  and  would  be  furious  if  he 
were  to  discover  a  secret  love  affair  between  the 
French  novelist  and  one  of  his  most  important 
subjects.  Yet  how  could  Balzac  find  30,000 
francs  ? 

Already  in  the  grip  of  heart  disease,  the  agony  he 
endured  at  this  time  took  him  one  stage  further  down 
the  valley  of  death.  In  the  end  he  managed  by 
frightening  the  thief  to  effect  the  return  of  the 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  289 

letters  without  any  immediate  payment;  but  the 
anguish  he  had  passed  through,  and  the  thought  of 
the  terrible  consequences  only  just  evaded,  decided 
him  to  burn  all  the  letters  he  had  received  from 
Madame  Hanska.  It  was  a  terrible  sacrifice.  He 
describes  in  an  unpublished  letter  to  her  his  feelings, 
as  he  sat  by  the  fire,  and  watched  each  letter  curl  up, 
blacken,  and  finally  disappear.  He  had  read  and  re- 
read them  till  they  had  nearly  dropped  to  pieces,  had 
been  cheered  and  comforted  by  the  sight  of  them  when 
the  world  had  gone  badly,  and  had  owned  them  so 
long  that  they  seemed  part  of  himself.  There  was 
the  first  of  all,  the  herald  of  joy,  the  opening  of  a 
new  life;  and  almost  as  precious  at  this  moment 
seemed  the  one  which  discovered  to  him  the  identity 
of  his  correspondent,  and  held  out  hopes  of  a  speedy 
meeting.  One  after  another  he  took  them  out  of  the 
box  which  had  held  some  of  them  for  many  years,  and 
each  seemed  equally  difficult  to  part  with.  However, 
as  he  WTote  to  Madame  Hanska,  he  knew  that  he  was 
doing  right  in  destroying  them,  and  that  the  painful 
sacrifice  was  absolutely  necessary. 

Meanwhile,  Emile  de  Girardin  was  naturally  be- 
coming impatient  about  the  continuation  of  "  Les 
Paysans,"  which  he  had  never  received.1  He  wrote 
to  Balzac  at  the  end  of  April,  1847,  that  the  printer 
had  been  ready  for  the  finish  of  the  book  since  the 
November  before,  and  that  unless  Balzac  could  pro- 

1MLa  Genese  d'un  Roman  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoel- 
berch  de  Lovenjoul,  from  which  the  whole  account  of  Balzac's  rupture 
with  Girardin  is  taken. 


290  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

duce  it  in  June,  the  idea  of  its  appearance  in  La  Presse 
must  be  given  up  altogether ;  and  in  this  case  he  must 
ask  the  author  to  settle  with  M.  Rouy  about  the  ad- 
vances of  money  already  made  to  him.  He  further 
remarked,  with  scathing  though  excusable  distrust  in 
Balzac's  fulfilment  of  his  business  engagements,  that 
he  refused  to  continue  to  bring  out  the  work  at  all, 
unless  he  were  absolutely  certain  that  it  was  com- 
pletely written  and  that  no  further  interruption  would 
ensue.  Friendly  social  relations  still  subsisted,  how- 
ever, between  Balzac  and  the  Girardins,  as,  about  the 
same  time  that  ifimile  penned  this  uncompromising 
epistle,  the  following  note  reached  Balzac,1  the  last 
he  ever  received  from  the  peacemaking  Madame  de 
Girardin : 

"  It  is  the  evening  of  my  last  Wednesday.  Come, 
cruel  one.  Mrs.  Norton  will  be  here.  Do  you  not 
wish  me  to  have  the  glory  of  having  presented  you  to 
this  English  '  Corinne '  ?  Emile  tells  me  that  '  La 
Derniere  Incarnation  de  Vautrin '  is  admirable.  The 
compositors  declare  that  it  is  your  chef-d'oeuvre. 

"  Only  till  this  evening,  I  implore  you. 

"  DELPHINE  GAY  DE  GIRARDIN." 

Balzac,  on  his  side,  was  now  most  anxious  to  finish 
"Les  Paysans,"  especially  as  his  penniless  state  at 
this  time  would  render  it  most  difficult  for  him  to  pay 
back  the  money  advanced  to  him  by  La  Presse.  He 

1 "  La  Genfcse  d'un  Roman  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch 
de  Lovenjoul,  p.  262. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  291 

was  in  special  difficulties,  as  he  had  lately  borrowed 
ten  or  fifteen  thousand  francs  from  the  impecunious 
Viscontis,  giving  them  as  guarantees  some  shares  in 
the  unfortunate  Chemin  de  Fer  du  Nord,  and  as  the 
railway  was  a  failure,  and  these  shares  were  a  burden 
instead  of  a  benefit,  Balzac  was  bound  in  honour  to 
relieve  his  friends  of  their  troublesome  possession,  and 
to  pay  back  what  he  owed  them.  This  necessity  was 
an  additional  incentive  to  action,  and  Balzac's  letters 
to  Madame  Hanska  about  this  time  contain  several 
indications  of  his  anxiety  about  "  Les  Paysans."  On 
June  9th  he  speaks  of  his  desire  to  bring  it  to  a  close; 
and  on  the  15th  he  writes  that  he  must  certainly  finish 
it  at  once,  to  avoid  the  lawsuit  with  which  he  has  been 
for  so  long  threatened  by  La  Presse.  However,  he 
seems  to  have  experienced  an  unconquerable  difficulty 
in  its  composition,  as  in  that  of  "  Seraphita,"  the  other 
book  about  which  he  had  cherished  a  peculiarly  lofty 
ideal.  Therefore  in  July  the  termination  of  "Les 
Paysans  "  had  not  yet  reached  the  office  of  La  Presse, 
and  on  the  13th  of  the  month  Balzac  received  the  fol- 
lowing letter:1 

"PARIS,  July  13th,  1847. 

" '  Le  Piccinino '  will  be  finished  this  week.  Only 
seven  numbers  of  '  Les  Paysans '  are  completed  in  ad- 
vance. We  are  therefore  at  the  mercy  of  an  indis- 
position, of  any  chance  incident,  things  of  which  it 
is  necessary  for  me  to  see  the  possibility,  and  to  which 
I  must  not  expose  myself. 

1 "  La  Genese  d'un  Roman  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch 
de  Lovenjoul,  p.  268. 


292  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

"  Really  you  high  dignitaries  of  the  periodical  are 
insupportable,  and  you  will  manage  so  cleverly  that 
the  periodical  will  some  day  fail  you  completely. 

"For  my  part,  my  resolution  on  this  matter  is 
taken,  and  firmly  taken,  and  if  I  had  not  a  remainder 
of  the  account  to  work  out,  I  would  certainly  not  pub- 
lish '  Les  Pay  sans,'  as  I  have  not  received  the  last 
line.  "  £MILE  DE  GIRARDIN/'  . 

Balzac's  answer  to  this  missive  is  lost.  It  must 
have  been  despatched  at  once,  and  was  evidently  not 
conciliatory,  as  it  was  answered  on  the  same  day  in 
the  following  terms: 

"  PARIS,  July  I3th,  1847. 

"  I  only  publish  '  Les  Paysans '  because  we  have  an 
account  to  settle.  Otherwise  I  certainly  should  not 
publish  it,  and  the  success  of  '  La  Derniere  Incarna- 
tion de  Vautrin'  would  certainly  not  impel  me  to 
do  it. 

'  Therefore  if  you  are  able  without  inconvenience 
to  pay  back  to  the  Presse  what  it  advanced  to  you,  I 
will  willingly  give  up  '  Les  Paysans.'  Otherwise  I 
will  publish  'Les  Paysans,'  and  will  begin  on  Mon- 
day next,  the  19th.  But  I  insist  that  there  shall  be  no 
interruption.  I  count  on  this. 

"  EMILE  DE  GIRARDIN." 

Girardin's  bitter  resentment  is  excusable,  when  we 
remember  that  it  was  in  September,  1844,  nearly  three 
years  before,  that  Balzac  had  received  9,000  francs  in 
advance  for  "Les  Paysans."  Since  then  only  one 


293 

number  of  the  promised  work  had  been  produced,  and 
the  great  writer's  only  explanation  for  his  long  delay 
in  finishing  the  book  was  the  inadequate  one  that 
Dujarier  had  interrupted  "Les  Paysans"  after  the 
first  chapters  had  been  published,  to  be  able  to  begin 
Alexandre  Dumas'  novel  "La  Reine  Margot,"  be- 
fore the  end  of  1844. 

In  Balzac's  reply,  written  next  day,  he  definitely 
withdrew  "  Les  Paysans  "  from  publication,  and  said 
that  he  would  pay  what  he  owed  La  Presse  within  the 
space  of  twenty  days,  and  would  not  charge  for  what 
had  not  yet  been  printed;  though  it  had  been  written 
and  composed  specially  for  La  Presse,  and  at  the 
request  of  the  Presse.  As  to  fimile  *de  Girardin's  in- 
sinuations about  the  failure  of  "La  Derniere  Incar- 
nation de  Vautrin,"  Balzac  remarked  that  this  had 
been  written  for  L'fipoque,  not  for  La  Presse,  and 
that  it  had  not  been  necessary  for  Girardin  to  pur- 
chase it  from  the  moribund  journal,  unless  he  had 
approved  of  it.  Girardin  had  hurt  him  on  his  tender- 
est  point  when  he  branded  his  works  as  failures.  With 
pride  and  bitterness  in  his  heart  he  went  through  the 
accounts  with  M.  Rouy,  and  found  that  out  of  the 
9,000  francs  received  from  La  Presse,  he  still  owed 
5,221  francs  85  centimes.  How  he  raised  the  money 
it  is  impossible  to  guess,  but  on  August  5th  he  paid 
2,500  francs,  and  on  September  1st  2,000  more,  so 
that  only  721  francs  85  centimes  remained  of  his  debt, 
and  he  made  his  preparations  to  start  for  Wierz- 
chownia  with  his  mind  at  rest. 

He  heard  from  Emile  de  Girardin  again,  as  we 


294  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

shall  see  later  on,  but  he  had  seen  Madame  de  Girar- 
din  for  the  last  time.  She  did  not  forget  him,  how- 
ever, and  the  news  of  his  death  was  so  terrible  a  shock 
that  she  fainted  away.  She  died  in  1855,  and  was 
deeply  mourned  by  her  friends.  Theophile  Gautier,  in 
his  admiring  account  of  her,  says  that  for  some  years 
before  her  death  she  became  a  prey  to  depression  and 
discouragement  at  the  conditions  surrounding  her.  It 
may  have  been  that  her  brilliant,  exciting  life  led 
naturally  to  a  partly  physical  reaction,  and  that  she 
became  too  tired  by  the  emotions  she  had  gone 
through  to  adapt  herself  with  buoyancy  to  the  ever 
variable  conditions  of  existence.  At  all  events  she  is 
a  refreshing  figure  in  the  midst  of  much  that  is  un- 
satisfactory— a  woman  witty,  highly  gifted,  a  queen 
of  society,  who  was  yet  kindly,  generous,  and 
absolutely  free  from  literary  jealousy. 

Before  the  middle  of  September,  when  Balzac  left 
for  Wierzchownia,  we  hear  once  of  him  again.  He 
was  still  dreaming  of  the  theatre  as  a  means  of  relief 
from  all  his  embarrassments,1  and  on  a  hot  day  in 
August,  1847,  he  went  to  Bougival,  to  pay  a  visit  to 
M.  Hostein,  the  director  of  the  Theatre  Historique, 
a  new  theatre  which  had  not  yet  been  opened  six 
months.  There,  sitting  in  the  shade  on  the  towing 
path  by  the  river,  he  unfolded  to  the  manager  his 
design  of  writing  a  grand  historical  drama  on  Peter 
I.  and  Catherine  of  Russia,  to  be  entitled  "  Pierre  et 
Catherine."  Nothing  was  written,  it  was  all  still  in 
his  head ;  but  he  at  once  sketched  the  first  scene  to  the 

'"Honore  de  Balzac,"  by  Edmond  Eire. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  295 

manager,  and  talked  with  enthusiasm  of  the  enormous 
success  which  would  be  caused  by  the  novelty  of  intro- 
ducing the  Russian  peasant  on  the  stage.  The  play 
could  be  written  very  quickly;  and  M.  Hostein,1 
carried  away  by  Balzac's  extraordinarily  persuasive 
eloquence,  already  began  to  reflect  about  suitable 
scenery,  dresses,  and  decorations,  for  the  framing  of 
this  masterpiece.  However,  to  his  disappointment 
Balzac  returned  in  a  few  days,  to  announce  that  there 
would  be  some  delay  in  the  production  of  his  play,  as 
he  wished  to  study  local  colouring  on  the  spot,  and 
was  on  the  point  of  starting  for  Russia.  He  said  that 
when  he  returned  to  Paris  in  the  spring,  he  would 
bring  M.  Hostein  a  completed  play,  and  with 
this  promise  the  manager  was  obliged  to  be  sat- 
isfied. 

Balzac  was  in  an  enormous  hurry  to  reach  Wierz- 
chownia,  and  set  himself  with  much  energy  to  the 
task  of  finishing  the  house  in  the  Rue  Fortunee.  His 
efforts  in  this  direction  were  doubtless  the  reason  that 
the  writing  of  "  Pierre  et  Catherine  "  was  postponed 
till  the  moujik  could  be  studied  in  his  native  land.  At 
last,  however,  the  work  of  decoration  was  complete, 
and  his  mother  left  in  charge,  with  minute  directions 
about  the  care  of  his  treasures.  He  had  toiled  with 
breathless  haste,  and  managed  after  all  to  start  earlier 
than  he  had  expected.  Once  on  the  journey  his  north- 
ern magnet  drew  him  with  ever-increasing  strength, 
and  regardless  of  fatigue,  he  travelled  for  eight  days 
in  succession  without  stoppage  or  rest,  and  arrived  ten 

1 "  Historiettes  et  Souvenirs  d'un  Homme  de  Theatre,"  by  M.  Hostein. 


296  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

days  before  his  letter  announcing  his  departure  from 
Paris.  The  inhabitants  of  the  chateau  were  naturally 
much  surprised  at  his  sudden  appearance,  and  Balzac 
considers  that  they  were  touched,  or  rather — though 
he  does  not  say  this — that  She  was  touched  by  his  em- 
pressement. 

He  was  much  delighted  with  his  surroundings. 
Wierzchownia  was  a  palace,  and  he  was  interested 
and  amused  with  the  novelty  of  all  he  saw.  He 
writes:  "We  have  no  idea  at  home  of  an  existence 
like  this.  At  Wierzchownia  it  is  necessary  to  have 
all  the  industries  in  the  house :  there  is  a  confectioner, 
a  tailor,  and  a  shoemaker." 1  He  was  established  in 
a  delicious  suite  of  rooms,  consisting  of  a  drawing- 
room,  a  study,  and  a  bedroom.  The  study  was  in  pink 
stucco,  with  a  fireplace  in  which  straw  was  apparently 
burnt,  magnificent  hangings,  large  windows,  and  con- 
venient furniture.  In  this  Louvre  of  a  Wierzchownia 
there  were,  as  Balzac  remarks  with  pleasure,  five  or 
six  similar  suites  for  guests.  Everything  was  patri- 
archal. Nobody  was  bored  in  this  wonderful  new  life. 
It  was  fairy-like,  the  fulfilment  of  Balzac's  dreams  of 
splendour,  an  approach  of  reality  to  the  grandiose 
blurred  visions  of  his  hours  of  creation.  He  who 
rejoiced  in  what  was  huge,  delighted  in  the  fact  that 
the  Count  Georges  Mniszech  had  gone  to  inspect  an 
estate  as  big  as  the  department  of  Seine-et-Marne, 
with  the  object  of  dismissing  a  prevaricating  bailiff. 
It  gave  him  intense  satisfaction  to  record  the  wonders 
of  this  strange  new  life:  to  tell  those  at  home  of  the 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  324. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  297 

biting  cold,  which  rendered  his  pelisse  of  Siberian 
fox  of  no  more  protection  than  a  sheet  of  blotting- 
paper  ;  or  to  mention  casually  that  all  the  letters  were 
carried  by  a  Cossack  across  sixty  "  verstes  "  of  steppes. 

The  Russians  were  eager  to  show  their  admiration 
of  the  celebrated  French  novelist,  and  Balzac  experi- 
enced the  truth  of  the  adage  that  a  prophet  is  not 
without  honour  save  in  his  own  country.  On  the  jour- 
ney out  the  officials  were  charmingly  polite  to  him, 
and  when  he  went  to  Kiev  to  pay  his  respects  to  the 
Governor- General,  and  to  obtain  permission  for  a 
lengthy  sojourn  in  Russia,  he  was  overwhelmed  with 
attentions.  A  rich  moujik  had  read  all  his  books, 
burnt  a  candle  for  him  every  week  to  St.  Nicholas, 
and  had  promised  a  sum  of  money  to  the  servants  of 
Madame  Hanska's  sister,  if  they  could  manage  that 
he  might  see  the  great  man.  This  atmosphere  of 
adoration  was  very  pleasant  to  one  whose  reward  in 
France  for  the  production  of  masterpieces  seemed 
sometimes  to  consist  solely  in  condemnation  and 
obloquy.  Balzac  enjoyed  himself  for  the  time,  and 
rested  from  his  literary  labours,  except  for  working 
at  the  second  part  of  "  L'Envers  de  1'Histoire  Con- 
temporaine,"  which  is  called  "  L'Initie,"  and  writing 
the  play  which  he  had  promised  Hostein  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  "  Pierre  et  Catherine." 

His  ever-active  brain  had  now  evolved  a  plan  for 
transporting  sixty  thousand  oaks  to  France,  from  a 
territory  on  the  Russian  frontier  belonging  to  Count 
Georges  Mniszech  and  his  father.  He  was  anxious 
that  M.  Surville  should  undertake  the  matter,  as,  after 


298  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

abstruse  and  careful  calculations — which  have  the 
puzzling  veneer  of  practicality  always  observable  in 
Balzac's  mad  schemes — he  considered  that  1,200,000 
francs  might  be  made  out  of  the  affair,  and  that  of 
course  the  engineer  who  arranged  the  transport  would 
reap  some  of  the  benefit.  The  blocks  of  wood  would 
be  fifteen  inches  in  diameter  at  the  base,  and  ten  at 
the  upper  part.  They  would  first  be  conveyed  to 
Brody,  from  there  by  high  road  to  Cracow,  and  thence 
they  would  travel  to  France  by  the  railway,  which 
would  be  finished  in  a  few  days.  Unfortunately, 
there  were  no  bridges  at  Cologne  over  the  Rhine,  or 
at  Magdeburg  over  the  Elbe ;  but  Balzac  was  not  dis- 
couraged by  the  question  of  the  transhipment  of  sixty 
thousand  oaks,  any  more  than  in  his  old  days  in  the 
Rue  Lesdiguieres  he  had  been  deterred  from  the  idea 
of  having  a  piano  by  the  attic  being  too  small  for  it. 
M.  Surville  was  to  answer  categorically,  giving  a  de- 
tailed schedule  of  the  costs  of  carriage  and  of  duty 
from  Cracow  to  France ;  and  to  this,  Balzac  would  add 
the  price  of  transport  from  Brody  to  Cracow.  He 
discounted  any  natural  astonishment  his  correspond- 
ent would  feel  at  the  neglect  hitherto  of  this  certain 
plan  for  making  a  fortune,  by  remarking  that  the 
proprietors  were  Creoles,  who  worked  their  settle-* 
ments  by  means  of  moujiks,  so  that  the  spirit  of  enter- 
prise was  entirely  absent.1  M.  Surville,  however, 
received  this  brilliant  proposition  without  enthusiasm, 
and  did  not  even  trouble  to  write  himself  about  the 
matter,  but  sent  back  an  answer  by  his  wife,  that  the 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  321. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  299 

price  of  transporting  the  freight  from  one  railway  to 
another  at  Breslau,  Berlin,  Magdeburg,  and  Cologne, 
would  render  the  scheme  impossible.  Balzac  showed 
unusual  docility  at  this  juncture;  he  was  evidently 
already  half-hearted  about  the  enterprise,  and  re- 
marked that  since  his  first  letter  he  had  himself 
thought  of  the  objections  pointed  out  by  M.  Surville, 
and  had  remembered  hearing  that  a  forest  purchased 
in  Auvergne  had  ruined  the  buyer,  owing  to  the  diffi- 
culty of  transport. 

Balzac  was  very  happy  at  Wierzchownia,  though 
the  fulfilment  of  the  great  desire  of  his  life  seemed 
still  distant.  Madame  Hanska's  hesitation  con- 
tinued: she  considered  herself  indispensable  to  her 
children;  besides,  owing  to  the  unfortunate  state  of 
the  Chemin  de  Fer  du  Nord,  Balzac's  pecuniary 
affairs  would  certainly  be  in  an  embarrassed  condition 
for  the  next  two  years.  Living  in  the  same  house 
with  her,  seeing  her  every  day,  and  feeling  sure  of  her 
affection,  and  of  a  certain  happy  consummation  to 
his  long  probation,  would  not  after  all  have  been  very 
painful,  except  for  one  great  drawback,  which  in- 
creased continually  as  time  went  on;  and  that  was 
the  terrible  effect  of  the  inclement  climate  on  Balzac's 
health.  He  had  suffered  from  heart  disease  for  some 
years,  and  in  a  letter  to  his  sister,  he  traces  its  origin 
to  the  cruelty  of  the  lady  about  whom  she  knows— 
possibly  Madame  de  Castries.  His  abuse  of  coffee, 
however,  and  the  unnatural  life  which  he  had  led  with 
the  object  of  straining  the  tension  of  every  power  to 
its  uttermost,  and  thus  of  forcing  the  greatest  pos- 


300  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

sible  quantity  and  quality  of  literary  work  out  of 
himself,  had  done  much  to  ruin  his  robust  constitu- 
tion. Nevertheless,  if  he  had  been  able  to  take  up 
his  abode  with  his  wife  in  the  Rue  Fortunee,  and  to 
enjoy  the  freedom  from  anxiety  which  her  fortune 
would  have  assured  to  him ;  if  he  had  been  happy  with 
her,  and  surrounded  by  his  beautiful  things,  had  at 
last  lived  the  life  for  which  he  had  so  long  yearned, 
it  seems  as  though  several  years  at  least  might  have 
remained  to  him.  The  enormous  labours  of  his 
earlier  years  would  indeed  have  been  impossible,1  but 
"Les  Parents  Pauvres"  had  shown  that  his  intellect 
was  now  at  its  best,  and  material  for  many  master- 
pieces was  still  to  be  found  in  that  capacious  brain 
and  fertile  imagination.  However,  the  rigours  of 
the  Russian  climate,  aided  no  doubt  by  the  privations 
and  anxieties  Balzac  suffered  in  Paris  after  the  Revo- 
lution of  1848,  and  by  the  barbarous  treatment  which 
he  underwent  at  the  hands  of  the  doctor  at  Wierz- 
chownia,  rendered  his  case  hopeless;  and  at  this  time 
only  one  more  stone  was  destined  to  be  laid  on  the 
unfinished  edifice  of  the  "  Comedie  Humaine." 

In  February,  1848,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  that 
Balzac  should  go  to  Paris,  as  money  must  at  once 
be  found  to  meet  the  calls  which  the  ill-fated  Chemin 
de  Fer  du  Nord  was  making  on  its  shareholders.  Bal- 
zac suffered  terribly  from  cold  on  the  journey,  and 
arrived  at  the  Rue  Fortunee  at  a  most  unfortunate 
time,  just  before  the  Revolution  of  February,  1848. 

In  consequence  of  the  disturbed  state  of  the  politi- 

1  "  Balzac,  sa  Vie,  son  CEuvre,"  by  Julien  Lemer. 


A  RARE  PORTRAIT  OF  BALZAC 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  301 

cal  atmosphere,  the  outlook  for  literature  was  tragic; 
and  Balzac,  who  was  in  immediate  want  of  money, 
found  himself  in  terrible  straits.  Living  with  two 
servants  in  his  luxurious  little  house,  surrounded  by 
works  of  art  which  had  cost  thousands  of  francs,  he 
was  almost  dying  of  hunger.  His  food  consisted  of 
boiled  beef,  which  was  cooked  and  eaten  hot  once  a 
week,  and  the  remaining  six  days  he  subsisted  on  the 
cold  remains.  It  seemed  impossible  to  raise  money 
for  his  present  pressing  necessities.  He  managed  to 
sell  "  L'Initie,"  1  at  a  ridiculously  small  price,  to  an 
ephemeral  journal  called  Le  Spectateur  Republican, 
but  only  received  in  return  bills  at  a  long  date,  and 
it  is  doubtful  whether  he  was  ever  paid  the  money  due 
to  him. 

Nevertheless,  whatever  effect  his  privations  may 
have  had  on  his  health,  they  did  not  subdue  his  spirits, 
as  both  Lemer  and  Champfleury,2  who  each  spent 
several  hours  with  him  in  the  Rue  Fortunee,  talk  of 
his  undiminished  vivacity,  his  hearty  fits  of  laughter, 
and  his  confident  plans  for  the  future.  Lemer,  who 
had  known  him  before,  does  indeed  remark  that  he 
seemed  much  aged;  but  Champfleury,  who  saw  him 
for  the  first  time,  is  only  struck  with  his  strength, 
animal  spirits,  and  keen  intelligence.  In  the  midst  of 
the  despondent  unhealthy  tendencies  of  the  literary 
talent  of  his  day,  he  was  still,  with  his  joie  de  vivre, 
a  man  apart.  Naif,  full  of  a  charming  pride,  he 

1MLa  Genese  d'un  Roman  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch 
de  Lovenjoul. 
2 "  Balzac,  sa  Vie,  son  CEuvre,"  by  Julien  Lemer. 


302  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

loved  literature  "  as  the  Arab  loves  the  wild  horse  he 
has  found  a  difficulty  in  subduing."  Nevertheless, 
material  prosperity,  as  ever,  occupied  an  important 
place  in  the  foreground  of  his  scheme  of  life,  and  his 
mind  was  still  running  on  the  theatre  as  the  great 
means  of  gaining  money.  He  warned  Champfleury 
not  to  follow  his  example,  which  led  after  the  pro- 
duction of  many  books  to  an  existence  of  deplorable 
poverty,  but  to  write  only  three  novels  a  year,  so  that 
ten  months  annually  should  be  left  for  making  a 
fortune  by  working  for  the  theatre,  "  car  il  f aut  que 
1'artiste  mene  une  vie  splendide."  * 

Schemes  still  coursed  each  other  through  his  quick- 
moving  brain.  He  wished  to  create  an  association 
of  all  the  great  dramatists  of  the  day,  who  should 
enrich  the  French  stage  with  plays  composed  in  com- 
mon. He  was  rather  despondent  about  this,  however, 
as  he  said  that  most  writers  were  cowardly  and  idle, 
and  he  was  afraid  they  would  therefore  refuse  to  join 
his  society.  Scribe  was  the  only  one  who  would 
work;  "Mais  quelle  litterature  que  'Les  Memoires 
d'un  Colonel  de  Hussards ! '"  he  exclaimed  in  horror.2 
Another  plan  for  becoming  colossally  rich  of  which 
he  talked  seriously  was  to  gain  a  monopoly  of  all 
the  arts,  and  to  act  as  auctioneer  to  Europe:  to  buy 
the  Apollo  Belvedere,  for  instance,  let  all  the  nations 
compete  for  it  against  each  other,  and  then  to  sell 
to  the  highest  bidder. 

He  took  a  gloomy  view  of  the  political  situation, 

1"Grandes  Figures  d'Hier  et  d'Aujourd'hui,"  by  Champfleury. 
1 "  Notes  Historiques  sur  M.  de  Balzac,"  by  Champfleury. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  303 

because,  though  he  had  a  great  admiration  for  Lamar- 
tine,  he  feared  that  the  poet  would  not  have  sufficient 
strength  of  mind  to  take  advantage  of  the  great 
majority  he  would  doubtless  have  in  the  next  Assem- 
blee  Constituante,  and  to  make  himself  the  chief  of 
a  strong  government,  when  he  might  justify  his  mag- 
nificent role  by  presiding  at  the  accomplishment  of 
the  great  social  and  administrative  reforms,  demanded 
by  justice,  and  material,  moral,  and  intellectual  prog- 
ress. In  one  of  his  remarks  was  a  touch  of  sadness. 
He  told  Lemer  that,  at  the  present  crisis,  all  authors 
should  sacrifice  their  writing  for  a  time,  and  throw 
themselves  with  energy  into  politics.  "  Et  pour  cela 
il  faut  etre  jeune,"  he  added  with  a  sigh;  "et  moi,  je 
suis  vieux!" 

However,  on  March  16th,  1848,  a  letter  WTitten  by 
him  appeared  in  the  Constitutionnel,  in  which  he  stated 
that  he  would  stand  as  deputy  if  requested  to  do  so.1 
In  consequence,  the  "  Club  de  la  Fraternite  Univer- 
selle"  wrote  to  inform  him  that  his  name  had  been 
put  on  the  list  of  candidates  for  election,  and  invited 
him  to  explain  his  political  views  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Club.  In  the  Constitutionnel  of  April  19th  Balzac 
answered  this  request  by  refusing  to  go  to  the  meet- 
ing, and  at  the  same  time  announced  that  he  had  no 
intention  of  canvassing,  and  wished  to  owe  his  election 
solely  to  votes  not  asked  for,  but  given  voluntarily. 
He  further  commented  on  the  fact  that  from  1789 
to  1848  France  had  changed  its  constitution  every 
fifteen  years,  and  asked  if  it  were  not  time,  "  for  the 

1 "  Honor^  de  Balzac,"  by  Edmond   Bir£. 


304  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

honour  of  our  country,  to  find,  to  found,  a  form,  an 
empire,  a  durable  government ;  so  that  our  prosperity, 
our  commerce,  our  arts,  which  are  the  life  of  our  com- 
merce, the  credit,  the  glory,  in  short,  all  the  fortune 
of  France,  shall  not  be  periodically  jeopardised? " 

Naturally,  these  uncompromising  views  did  not 
meet  with  favour  from  the  "citoyens  membres  du 
Club  de  la  Fraternite  Universelle,"  and  Balzac  was 
not  elected  a  member  of  the  Assemblee  Rationale. 


CHAPTER  XV 

1848—1849 
* 

Description  of  interior  of  house  in  the  Rue  Fortunee — "  La  Mar- 
atre  " — Projected  plays — "  Le  Faiseur  " — Balzac  seeks  ad- 
mission for  the  last  time  to  the  Academic  Francaise 

• 

— He    returns   to    Wierzchownia — Failing 

health — Letters  to    his  family — 

Family  relations  strained 

DURING  his  stay  in  Paris,  which  lasted  from  Febru- 
ary till  the  end  of  September,  Balzac  was  careful  not 
to  admit  any  strangers  to  the  mysterious  house  in  the 
Rue  Fortunee.  Even  his  trusted  friends  were  only 
shown  the  magnificence  of  his  residence  with  strict 
injunctions  about  secrecy,  so  afraid  was  he  that  the 
news  of  his  supposed  riches  should  reach  the  ears  of 
his  creditors.  He  was  only  the  humble  custodian,  he 
said,  of  all  these  treasures;  nothing  belonged  to  him; 
he  was  poorer  than  ever,  and  was  only  taking  charge 
of  the  house  for  a  friend.  This  was  difficult  to 
believe,  and  his  acquaintances,  who  had  always  been 
sceptical  about  his  debts,  laughed,  and  said  to  his 
delight,  yet  annoyance,  that  he  was  in  reality  a 
millionaire,  and  that  he  kept  his  fortune  in  old 
stockings. 

Theophile  Gautier,  after  remarking  how  difficult  it 

305 


306  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

was  to  gain  an  entrance  to  this  carefully-guarded 
abode,  describes  it  thus :  "  He  received  us,  however,  one 
day,  and  we  were  able  to  see  a  dining-room  panelled  in 
old  oak,  with  a  table,  mantelpiece,  buffets,  sideboards, 
and  chairs  in  carved  wood,  which  would  have  made  a 
Berruguete,  a  Cornejo  Duque,  or  a  Verbruggen  en- 
vious ;  a  drawing-room  hung  with  gold-coloured  dam- 
ask, with  doors,  cornices,  plinths,  and  embrasures  of 
ebony;  a  library  ranged  in  cupboards  inlaid  with  tor- 
toiseshell  and  copper  in  the  style  of  Buhl ;  a  bathroom 
in  yellow  breccia,  with  bas-reliefs  in  stucco;  a  domed 
boudoir,  the  ancient  paintings  of  which  had  been  re- 
stored by  Edmond  Hedouin;  and  a  gallery  lighted 
from  the  top,  which  we  recognised  later  in  the  collec- 
tion of  '  Cousin  Pons.'  On  the  shelves  were  all  sorts 
of  curiosities — Saxony  and  Sevres  porcelain,  sea- 
green  horns  with  crackled  glazing;  and  on  the  stair- 
case, which  was  covered  with  a  carpet,  were  great  china 
vases,  and  a  magnificent  lantern  suspended  by  a  cable 
of  red  silk."  1 

The  gallery,  the  holy  of  holies  of  this  temple  of 
Art,  where  the  treasures  laboriously  collected  and 
long  concealed  were  at  last  assembled,  is  described 
exactly  in  "  Le  Cousin  Pons."  It  was  a  large  oblong 
room,  lighted  from  the  top,  the  walls  painted  in 
wirite  and  gold,  but  "  the  white  yellowed,  the  gold  red- 
dened by  time,  gave  harmonious  tones  which  did  not 
spoil  the  effect  of  the  canvases."  2 

1 "  Portraits     Contemporains  :     Honor6    de     Balzac,"    by    Thtophile 
Gautier. 
2 "  Le  Cousin  Pons,"  by  Honor£  de  Balzac. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  307 

There  were  fourteen  statues  in  this  gallery 
mounted  on  Buhl  pedestals,  and  all  round  the  walls 
were  richly  decorated  ebony  buffets  containing  objets 
d'art,  while  in  the  centre  stood  carved  wooden  cases, 
which  showed  to  great  advantage  some  of  the  greatest 
rarities  in  human  work — costly  jewellery,  and  curiosi- 
ties in  ivory,  bronze,  wood,  and  enamel.  Sixty-seven 
pictures  adorned  the  walls  of  this  magnificent  apart- 
ment, among  them  the  four  masterpieces,  the  loss  of 
which  is  the  most  tragic  incident  in  the  melancholy 
story  of  poor  old  Pons.  They  were  a  "  Chevalier  de 
Malte  en  Priere,"  by  Sebastian  del  Piombo;  a  "Holy 
Family,"  by  Fra  Bartolommeo;  a  "Landscape,"  by 
Hobbema;  and  a  "Portrait  of  a  Woman,"  by  Albert 
Diirer.  Apparently  they  were  in  reality  mediocre 
as  works  of  art,  but  they  were  a  source  of  the  utmost 
pride  and  delight  to  their  owner,  who  said  enthusias- 
tically of  one  of  them — the  Sebastian  del  Piombo— 
that  "  human  art  can  go  no  further."  When  we  know 
that  in  the  novel  Balzac  is  speaking  of  his  own  cher- 
ished possessions,  we  think  of  his  own  words,  "  Ideas 
project  themselves  with  the  same  force  by  which  they 
are  conceived,"  *  and  can  understand  the  reason  of 
the  positive  pain  we  feel,  when  the  poor  old  Cousin 
Pons  is  bereft  of  his  treasures.  The  great  voyant 
was  transported  by  his  powerful  imagination  into  the 
personality  of  the  old  musician,  and  the  heartrending 
situation  he  had  evoked  must  have  been  torture  to 
him;  though  with  the  courage  and  conscientiousness 
of  the  true  artist  he  did  not  hesitate  in  the  task  he 

1 "  Le  Pfcre  Goriot,"  by  HononJ  de  Balzac. 


308  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

had  set  himself,  but  ever  darkened  and  deepened  the 
shadows  of  his  tragedy  towards  the  close. 

It  is  not  surprising  to  hear  that  this  sumptuous 
house  cost  400,000  francs,  but  it  is  astonishing,  and 
it  gives  the  inhabitant  of  steady-going  England  an 
idea  of  the  inconvenience  of  revolutions,  that  its 
owner  and  occupant  should  in  1848  have  been  starv- 
ing in  the  midst  of  magnificence,  and  that  it  should 
have  been  impossible  for  him  to  find  a  purchaser  for 
some  small  curiosity,  if  he  had  wished  to  sell  it  to 
buy  bread.  Part  of  the  cost  of  the  house  had  been 
defrayed  by  Madame  Hanska,  but  Balzac  had  evi- 
dently overstepped  her  limits,  and  had  involved  him- 
self seriously  in  debt.  One  of  the  alleged  reasons 
given  by  the  lady  for  the  further  deferment  of  her 
promise  to  become  Madame  Honore  de  Balzac  was 
the  state  of  embarrassment  to  which  Balzac  had  re- 
duced himself  by  his  expenditure  in  decoration;  and, 
in  his  despair  and  disgust,  the  home  he  had  been  so 
happily  proud  of,  and  which  seemed  destined  never 
to  be  occupied,  soon  became  to  him  "that  rascally 
plum  box." 

At  this  time,  however,  he  was  still  tasting  the  joys 
of  ownership,  and  was,  as  usual,  hopeful  about  the 
future.  His  dreams  of  theatrical  success  seemed  at 
last  destined  to  come  true.1  Hostein,  who  had  rushed 
to  the  Rue  Fortunee  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  arrival 
of  the  great  man,  to  ask  for  the  play  promised  him  in 
place  of  "  Pierre  et  Catherine,"  found  Balzac  as  usual 
at  his  desk,  and  was  presented  with  a  copy-book  on 

1 "  Honore  de  Balzac,"  by  Edmond  Eire. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  309 

which  was  written  in  large  characters,  "Gertrude, 
tragedie  bourgeoise."  The  play  was  read  next  day 
in  Balzac's  drawing-room  to  Hostein,  Madame  Dor- 
val,  and  Melingue;  and  Hostein  accepted  it  under  the 
name  of  "  La  Maratre,"  Madame  Dorval  expressing 
much  objection  to  its  first  title.  Eventually,  to  Ma- 
dame Dorval's  and  to  Balzac's  disappointment, 
Madame  Lacressoniere,  who  had  much  influence  with 
Hostein,  was  entrusted  with  the  heroine's  part;  and 
the  tragedy  was  produced  at  the  Theatre  Historique 
on  May  25th,  1848.  In  spite  of  the  disturbed  state 
of  the  political  atmosphere,  which  was  ruinous  to  the 
theatres,  the  play  met  with  considerable  success;  and 
the  critics  began  to  realise  that  when  once  Balzac 
had  mastered  the  metier  of  the  theatre,  he  might  be- 
come a  great  dramatist.  About  this  time,  Cogniard, 
the  director  of  the  Porte  Saint  Martin,  received  a 
letter  with  fifty  signatures,  asking  for  a  second  per- 
formance of  "Vautrin."  He  communicated  this  re- 
quest to  Balzac,  who  stipulated  that  if  "Vautrin" 
were  again  put  on  the  stage,  all  caricature  of  Louis 
Philippe  should  be  avoided  by  the  actor  who  played 
the  principal  part.  He  added  that  when  he  wrote 
the  play  he  had  never  intended  any  political  allusion. 
However,  "  Vautrin  "  was  not  acted  till  April,  1850, 
when,  without  Balzac's  knowledge,  it  was  produced 
at  the  Gaite.  Balzac,  who  heard  of  this  at  Dresden, 
on  his  journey  to  Paris  from  Russia,  wrote  to  com- 
plain of  the  violation  of  his  dramatic  rights,  and  in 
consequence  the  play  was  withdrawn  from  the  boards 
of  the  Gaite. 


310  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

During  his  stay  in  Paris  in  1848  Balzac  sketched 
out  the  plots  of  many  dramas.  The  director  of  the 
Odeon,  in  despair  at  the  emptiness  of  his  theatre  after 
the  political  crisis  of  June,  offered  Victor  Hugo, 
Dumas,  and  Balzac 1  a  premium  of  6,000  francs,  and 
a  royalty  on  all  receipts  exceeding  4,000  francs,  if 
they  would  produce  a  play  for  his  theatre ;  and  in  re- 
sponse to  this  offer  Balzac  promised  "Richard  Sau- 
vage,"  which  he  never  wrote.  The  manager  of  the 
Theatre  Fran9ais,  M.  Lockroy,  also  made  overtures 
to  the  hitherto  despised  dramatist;  and  Balzac 
thought  of  providing  him  with  a  comedy  entitled 
"  Les  Petits  Bourgeois,"  but  abandoned  the  idea. 
"  Is  it,"  he  wrote  to  Hippolyte  Rolle,  "  the  day  after 
a  battle  when  the  bourgeoisie  have  so  generously  shed 
their  blood  for  menaced  civilisation;  is  it  at  the  time 
when  they  are  in  mourning,  that  they  should  be  rep- 
resented on  the  stage? " 2 

At  this  time,  however,  Balzac  had  in  his  portfolio 
a  play  quite  ready  to  be  acted — one  which  had  several 
times  changed  its  title,  being  called  by  its  author  suc- 
cessively "Mercadet,"  "Le  Speculateur,"  and  "Le 
Faiseur."  It  was  read  and  accepted  by  the  Comedie 
Fran9aise  on  August  17th,  1848,  under  the  name  of 
"La  Faiseur";  and  when  Balzac  returned  to  Russia 
at  the  end  of  September  he  asked  his  friend  Laurent- 
Jan  to  take  charge  of  the  comedy  during  his  absence. 
Evidently  he  heard  that  matters  were  not  going  very 
smoothly,  as  in  December  he  wrote  to  Laurent- Jan 

1 "  Honore  de  Balzac,"  by  Edmond  Bir£. 
2 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  332. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  811 

from  Wierzchownia  to  say  that  if  the  Comedie  Fran- 
caise  refused  "  Mercadet "  —which  had  been  "  re9ue  a 
1'unanimite"  on  August  17th — it  might  be  offered 
to  Frederick  Lemaitre;  and  a  few  days  later,  hearing 
that  the  piece  was  "re9ue  seulement  a  corrections," 
by  the  Comedie  Fran9aise,  he  withdrew  it  altogether. 
"Le  Faiseur"  or  "Mercadet"  was  then  offered  to 
the  Theatre  Historique,  and  Balzac  already  saw  in 
imagination  his  sister  and  his  two  nieces  attending 
the  first  night's  performance,  decked  out  in  their  most 
elegant  toilettes.  As  he  was  in  Russia,  and  his  mother 
did  not  go  to  the  theatre,  they  would  be  the  sole  rep- 
resentatives of  the  family;  and  Hostein  must  there- 
fore provide  them  with  one  of  the  best  boxes  in  the 
theatre.  If  there  were  hissings  and  murmurings,  as 
Balzac  expected  from  past  experiences,  his  younger 
niece  Valentine  would  be  indignant;  but  Sophie 
would  still  preserve  her  dignity,  "and  you,  my  dear 
sister.  .  .  .  But  what  can  a  box  do  against  a 
theatre?" 

Nevertheless,  though  Hostein  accepted  "Le  Fai- 
seur," he  announced  that  his  clients  preferred  melo- 
drama to  comedy,  and  that,  in  order  to  fit  it  for  his 
"  theatre  de  boulevard,"  the  play  would  require  modi- 
fications which  would  completely  change  its  character. 
Balzac  naturally  objected  to  these  proposed  altera- 
tions, as  they  sounded  infinitely  more  sweeping  than 
the  "  corrections  "  of  the  Comedie  Francaise,  and  the 
play  was  never  acted  during  his  life.  On  August 
23rd,  1851,  however,  as  we  have  already  seen,  "Mer- 
cadet le  Faiseur,"  with  certain  modifications  made  by 


312  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

M.  Dennery,  and  also  with  omissions — for  the  play  as 
Balzac  originally  wrote  it  was  too  long  for  the  theatre 
— was  received  with  tremendous  acclamations  at  the 
Gymnase;  and  on  October  22nd,  1868,  it  was  acted 
at  the  Comedie  Fran9aise,  and  again  in  1879  and  in 
1890. 

Mercadet,  first  played  by  Geoifroy,  who  conceived 
Balzac's  creation  admirably,  and  at  the  Comedie 
Fran9aise  less  successfully  by  Got,  is  a  second  Figaro, 
with  a  strong  likeness  to  Balzac  himself.  He  is  con- 
tinually on  the  stage,  and  keeps  the  audience  uninter- 
ruptedly amused  by  his  wit,  good-humour,  hearty 
bursts  of  laughter,  and  ceaseless  expedients  for  baf- 
fling his  creditors.  The  action  of  the  play  is  simple 
and  natural,  and  the  dialogue  scintillates  with  bon 
mots,  gaiety,  and  amusing  sallies.  The  play  had  been 
conceived  and  even  written  in  1839  or  1840,  and  never 
did  Balzac's  imperishable  youth  shine  out  more  bril- 
liantly than  in  its  execution.  It  is  curious  to  notice 
that  his  innate  sense  of  power  as  a  dramatist,  which 
never  deserted  him,  even  when  he  seemed  to  have 
found  his  line  in  quite  a  different  direction,  was  in 
the  end  amply  justified. 

His  vivacity  and  hopefulness  never  forsook  him 
for  long.  Even  in  his  terrible  state  of  health  in 
1849,  and  in  spite  of  his  disappointment  at  the  non- 
appearance  of  "  Le  Faiseur,"  he  was  in  buoyant  spir- 
its, and  informed  his  sister  in  one  of  his  letters  that 
he  was  sending  a  comedy,  "  Le  Hoi  des  Mendiants," 
to  Laurent-Jan,  as  soon  as  he  could  manage  to  trans- 
port it  to  St.  Petersburg.  There,  the  French  Am- 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  313 

bassador  would  be  entrusted  with  the  charge  of 
despatching  it  to  Paris,  as  manuscripts  were  not 
allowed  to  travel  by  post.1  About  three  weeks  later,2 
he  wrote  to  ask  his  mother  to  tell  Madame  Dorval 
that  he  was  preparing  another  play,  with  a  great 
role  in  it  designed  specially  for  her.  However,  owing 
to  Balzac's  failing  health  the  drama  never  took  form, 
and  Madame  Dorval  died  on  April  20th,  1849,  about 
three  weeks  after  his  letter  was  despatched. 

At  the  time  of  his  stay  in  the  Rue  Fortunee  in 
1848,  he  was,  however,  satisfied  about  "Mercadet," 
which  had,  as  we  have  seen,  been  accepted  by  the 
Comedie  Fran9aise;  and  the  production  of  which 
would  help,  he  doubtless  hoped,  to  relieve  him  from 
his  monetary  difficulties.  Ready  money  was  an  ever- 
pressing  necessity.  liJmile  de  Girardin,  in  his  politi- 
cal activity  during  the  Revolution  of  1848,  had  not 
forgotten  his  personal  resentments,  and  soon  after 
Balzac's  arrival  in  Paris  he  requested  him  to  pay  at 
once  721  francs  85  centimes  which  he  still  owed  La 
Pressed  This  Balzac  could  not  possibly  do,  and  most 
probably  he  forgot  all  about  the  matter.  Not  so  his 
antagonist,  who  on  October  7th,  1848,  after  Balzac 
had  returned  to  Russia,  demanded  immediate  pay- 
ment ;  and  four  days  afterwards  applied  to  the  Tribu- 
nal of  the  Seine  for  an  order  that  the  debt  should  be 
paid  from  the  future  receipts  of  "  Le  Faiseur,"  which 

"  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  393. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  397. 

3 "  La  Genese  d'un  Roman  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch 
de  Lovenjoul. 


314  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

was  at  that  time  in  rehearsal  at  the  Theatre  Francais. 
This  demand  was  granted,  but  as  after  all  the  play 
was  withdrawn,  Emile  de  Girardin  did  not  receive 
his  money.  However,  he  was  paid  in  the  end,  as  he 
wrote  Balzac  a  receipt  dated  December  30th,  1848, 
for  757  francs  75  centimes,  a  sum  which  included 
legal  expenses  as  well  as  the  original  debt. 

There  were  to  be  two  elections  to  the  Academic 
Fran9aise  in  January,  1849,  as  M.  Chateaubriand's 
and  M.  Vatout's  armchairs  were  both  vacant;  and 
Balzac  determined  again  to  try  his  fortune.  He 
wrote  the  required  letter  before  his  departure  to  Rus- 
sia, and  this  was  read  at  a  meeting  of  the  illustrious 
Forty  on  October  5th,  1848.1  Apparently  Balzac's 
absence  from  France,  which  prevented  him  from  pay- 
ing the  prescribed  visits,  militated  against  his  chances 
of  success,  as  his  ardent  supporter,  M.  Vacquerie, 
wrote  in  L'Evenement  of  January  9th,  1849:  "Bal- 
zac is  now  in  Russia.  How  can  he  be  expected  to 
pay  visits?  He  will  not  become  a  member  of  the 
Academic  because  he  has  not  been  in  Paris?  And 
when  posterity  says,  '  He  wrote  "  Splendeurs  et 
Miseres  des  Courtisanes,"  "Le  Pere  Goriot,"  "Les 
Parents  Pauvres,"  and  "  Les  Treize," '  the  Academic 
will  answer :  '  Yes,  but  we  went  on  a  journey.' ' 

At  the  first  election,  which  took  place  on  January 
llth,  1849,  the  Due  de  Noailles  was  at  the  head  of 
the  list,  with  twenty-five  papers  in  his  favour,  and 
Balzac  received  two;  at  the  second,  on  January  18th, 
when  M.  de  Saint-Priest  was  the  successful  candidate, 

1 "  Honore  de  Bakac,"  by  Edmond  Eire. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  315 

two  members  of  the  Academy  again  voted  for  Balzac 
at  the  first  round  of  the  ballot,  but  at  the  third  and 
deciding  round  his  name  was  not  included  at  all. 
Balzac  wrote  to  Laurent-Jan  to  ask  for  the  names  of 
his  supporters,  as  he  wished  to  thank  them ;  and  about 
the  same  time,  in  a  letter  to  his  brother-in-law,  M. 
Surville,  he  let  it  be  understood  that  he  would  never 
again  present  himself  as  a  candidate  for  admission 
to  the  Academic  Fran9aise,  as  he  intended  to  put 
that  body  in  the  wrong. 

This  is  anticipation;  we  must  return  to  the  end 
of  September,  1848,  when  Balzac,  after  having 
arranged  the  necessary  business  matters,  hurried  back 
to  Madame  Hanska.  For  the  better  guardianship 
of  his  treasures,  he  left  his  mother  with  two  servants 
installed  in  the  Rue  Fortunee,  and  he  expected  to 
return  to  Paris  by  the  beginning  of  1849.  His  fam- 
ily did  not  hear  from  him  for  more  than  a  month 
after  his  arrival,  when  his  mother  received  a  letter 
full,  as  usual,  of  directions  and  commissions,  but  giv- 
ing no  news  of  his  own  doings.  He  was  evidently 
ill  at  the  time  he  wrote,  and  a  few  days  afterwards 
was  seized  with  acute  bronchitis,  and  was  obliged  to 
put  off  his  projected  return  to  Paris. 

Balzac's  health  all  through  the  winter  was  deplor- 
able, and  under  the  direction  of  the  doctor  at  Wierz- 
chownia,  he  went  through  a  course  of  treatment  for 
his  heart  and  lungs.  This  doctor  was  a  pupil  of  the 
famous  Franck,  the  original  of  Benassis  in  the  "  Me- 
decin  de  Campagne,"  and  Balzac  appears  to  have  had 
complete  faith  in  him,  and  to  have  been  much  im- 


316  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

pressed  by  his  dictum,  that  French  physicians,  though 
the  first  in  the  world  for  diagnosis,  were  quite  ignor- 
ant of  curative  methods.  Balzac's  passion  at  this 
time  for  everything  Russian  must  have  been  pecu- 
liarly trying  to  his  family.  It  surely  seemed  to  them 
madness  that  he  should  separate  himself  from  his 
country,  should  gradually  see  less  and  less  of  his 
friends,  and  should  show  an  inclination  to  be  ashamed 
of  his  relations,  for  the  sake  of  a  woman  crippled 
with  rheumatism,  and  no  longer  young,  who,  how- 
ever passionately  she  may  have  loved  him  in  the  past, 
seemed  now  to  have  grown  tired  of  him.  Sophie  and 
Valentine  Surville  were  no  doubt  delighted  to  receive 
magnificent  silk  wraps  from  their  uncle,  trimmed 
with  Russian  fur;  but  the  letter  accompanying  the 
gift  must,  we  think,  have  rather  spoiled  their  pleasure, 
or  at  any  rate  was  likely  to  have  hurt  their  mother's 
feelings.  It  was  surely  hardly  necessary  to  inform 
"ma  pauvre  Sophie"  that  it  was  in  vain  for  her  to 
compete  with  the  Countess  Georges  in  proficiency 
on  the  piano,  as  the  latter  had  "  the  genius  of  music, 
as  of  love";  and  a  long  string  of  that  wonderful 
young  lady's  perfections  must  have  been  rather 
wearying  to  those  who  had  not  the  felicity  of  being 
acquainted  with  her.  Apparently  the  young  Coun- 
tess possessed  deep  knowledge  without  pedantry,  and 
was  of  delicious  naivete,  laughing  like  a  little  child; 
though  this  did  not  prevent  her  from  showing  relig- 
ious enthusiasm  about  beautiful  things.  Further,  she 
was  of  angelic  goodness,  intensely  observant,  yet 
extremely  discreet,  most  respectful  to  her  adored 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  317 

mother,  very  industrious,  and  she  lived  only  for  duty. 
"All  these  advantages  are  set  off  by  a  proud  air, 
full  of  good  breeding,  an  air  of  ease  and  grandeur 
which  is  not  possessed  by  every  queen,  and  which  is 
quite  lost  in  France,  where  every  one  wishes  to  be 
equal.  This  outward  distinction,  this  look  of  being 
a  great  lady,  is  one  of  the  most  precious  gifts  which 
God,  the  God  of  women,  can  bestow  on  them."  1  To 
paint  her  character  aright,  Balzac  says,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  blend  in  one  word  virtues  which  a  mor- 
alist would  consider  it  impossible  to  find  united  in  a 
single  human  being;  and  her  "sublime  education" 
was  a  crown  to  the  whole  edifice  of  her  perfections. 

The  only  consolation  which  an  impartial  though 
possibly  unprincipled  observer  might  have  offered 
at  this  point  to  the  unfortunate  Sophie  and  Valen- 
tine, would  be  the  fact  that  the  young  Countess  was 
evidently  extremely  plain,  as  even  Balzac's  partiality 
only  allows  him  to  say:  "Physically  she  possesses 
grace,  which  is  more  beautiful  even  than  beauty,  and 
this  triumphs  over  a  complexion  which  is  still  brown 
(she  is  hardly  sixteen  years  old),  and  over  a  nose 
which,  though  well  cut,  is  only  charming  in  the  pro- 
file." 

Let  us  hope,  however,  that  our  pity  is  after  all 
wasted  on  the  nieces,  and  that  in  their  joy  at  the 
idea  of  receiving  handsome  presents,  they  either 
skipped  the  unwelcome  portions  of  their  distin- 
guished uncle's  letter,  or  that,  knowing  the  cause  of 
his  raptures,  if  they  did  read,  they  laughed  and  un- 
derstood. 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  345. 


318  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

His  Polar  Star  is  seldom  mentioned  by  name  in 
Balzac's  letters;  she  is  generally  "the  person  with 
whom  I  am  staying,"  and  he  says  little  about  her, 
except  that  she  is  very  much  distressed  at  the  amount 
of  his  debts,  and  that  the  great  happiness  of  his  life 
is  constantly  deferred.  Two  fires  had  taken  place 
on  the  estate,  and  the  Countess  was  in  addition  bur- 
dened with  three  lawsuits;  one  about  some  property 
which  should  have  come  to  her  from  an  uncle,  and 
about  which  it  would  be  necessary  for  her  to  go  to 
St.  Petersburg.  Balzac's  letters  as  usual  abound  in 
allusions  to  his  monetary  difficulties,  while  the  Sur- 
villes  had  been  almost  ruined  by  the  Revolution  of 
1848,  so  that  the  outlook  for  the  family  was  black  on 
all  sides. 

All  this  time  Balzac's  relations  were  becoming  more 
and  more  discontented  with  his  doings,  as  well  as 
with  the  general  aspect  of  his  affairs.  Honore  was 
evidently  pursuing  a  chimera,  and  because  of  his  illu- 
sions, many  burdens  were  imposed  on  them.  Madame 
de  Balzac,  the  principal  sufferer,  was  tired  of  acting 
as  custodian  at  the  Rue  Fortunee,  where  she  was 
expected  to  teach  Francois  how  to  clean  the  lamps, 
and  received  careful  instructions  about  wrapping  the 
gilt  bronzes  in  cotton  rags.  It  seemed  as  though 
her  son  were  permanently  swallowed  up  by  that  ter- 
rible Russia,  about  which,  as  he  remarked  impatiently, 
she  would  never  understand  anything ;  and  she  longed 
to  retire  to  her  little  lodgings  at  Suresnes,  and  to  do 
as  she  pleased.  Laure,  too,  had  her  grievances, 
though  possibly  she  kept  them  to  herself  and  strove 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  319 

to  act  as  peacemaker.  She  and  her  family  were  in 
terrible  monetary  straits,  and  the  sight  of  the  costly 
house,  which  seemed  destined  never  to  be  occupied, 
must  have  been  slightly  exasperating.  She  was  quite 
willing  to  be  useful  to  Honore,  and  did  not  mind  when 
troublesome  commissions  were  entrusted  to  her;  but 
it  was  no  doubt  galling  to  notice  that — though  her 
daughters  were  expected  to  write  continually,  and 
were  supposed  to  be  amply  rewarded  for  their  labours 
by  hearing  of  the  delight  with  which  the  young  Coun- 
tess listened  to  their  letters — a  strong  motive  lurking 
behind  Balzac's  anxiety  to  hear  often  from  his  family, 
was  the  desire  to  impress  Madame  Hanska  favour- 
ably with  the  idea  of  their  affection  for  himself,  and 
their  unity.  At  the  same  time,  a  sad  presentiment 
warned  her,  that  if  ever  her  brother  were  married  to 
this  great  lady,  his  family  and  friends  would  see  little 
more  of  him.  The  prospect  cannot  have  been  very 
cheerful  to  poor  Laure,  as  either  Honore  would  re- 
turn to  France  brokenhearted  and  overwhelmed  with 
debt,  or  he  would  gain  his  heart's  desire,  and  would 
be  lost  to  his  family. 

The  tone  of  Balzac's  letters  to  his  relations  at  this 
time  has  been  adversely  criticised,  and  it  is  true  that 
the  reader  is  sometimes  irritated  by  the  frequency  of 
his  requests  for  service  from  them,  and  his  continual 
insistence  on  the  wonderful  perfections  of  the  Hanski 
family,  and  their  grandeur  and  importance.  Occa- 
sionally, too,  his  letters  show  an  irritability  which  is 
a  new  feature  in  his  character.  We  must  remember, 
however,  in  judging  Balzac,  that  he  was  nearly  driven 


320  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

wild  by  the  position  in  which  he  found  himself.  It 
was  necessary  that  he  should  always  be  bright,  good- 
natured,  and  agreeable  to  the  party  at  Wierzchownia, 
and  his  letters  to  his  family  were  therefore  the  only 
safety-valve  for  the  impatience  and  despair,  which, 
though  he  never  utters  a  word  of  reproach  against 
Madame  Hanska,  must  sometimes  have  taken  pos- 
session of  him. 

His  was  a  terrible  dilemma.  Ill  and  suffering, 
so  that  he  was  not  able  to  work  to  diminish  his  load  of 
debt,  desperately  in  love  with  a  cold-hearted  woman, 
who  used  these  debts  as  a  lever  for  postponing  what 
on  her  side  was  certainly  an  undesirable  marriage; 
and  enormously  proud,  so  that  failure  in  his  hopes 
would  mean  to  him  not  only  a  broken  heart,  but  also 
almost  unbearable  mortification ;  Balzac,  crippled  and 
handicapped,  with  his  teeth  set  hard,  his  powers  con- 
centrated on  one  point,  that  of  winning  Madame 
Hanska,  was  at  times  hardly  master  of  himself. 
There  was  indeed  some  excuse  for  his  irritation,  when 
his  family  wrote  something  tactless,  or  involved  them- 
selves in  fresh  misfortunes,  just  as  matters  perhaps 
seemed  progressing  a  little  less  unfavourably  than 
usual.  Their  letters  were  always  read  aloud  at  the 
lunch  table  at  Wierzchownia,  and  often,  alas!  their 
perusal  served  to  prove  anew  to  Madame  Hanska 
the  mistake  she  had  made  in  contemplating  an  alli- 
ance with  a  member  of  a  family  so  peculiarly  unlucky 
and  undesirable. 

At  last  the  smouldering  indignation  between  Balzac 
and  his  relations  burst  into  a  flame.  The  immediate 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  321 

cause  of  ignition  was  a  letter  from  Madame  de  Balzac, 
complaining  that  Honore  had  not  written  sufficiently 
often  to  her;  and  further,  that  he  did  not  answer 
his  nieces'  epistles.  .  These  reproaches  were  received 
with  much  indignation,  as  Balzac  remarked  in  his 
answer,  which  was  dated  February,  1849,  that  he  had 
written  seven  times  to  his  mother  since  his  return  to 
Wierzchownia  in  September,  and  that  he  did  not  like 
to  send  letters  continually,  because  they  were  franked 
by  his  hosts.  He  goes  on  to  say  rather  sadly,  that  it 
will  not  do  for  him  to  trespass  on  the  hospitality 
offered  him,  because,  though  he  has  been  royally  and 
magnificently  received,  he  has  still  no  rights  but  those 
of  a  guest.  On  the  subject  of  his  neglect  to  write  to 
his  nieces,  he  is  very  angry,  and  cries  in  an  outburst 
of  irritability:  "It  seems  strange  to  you  that  I  do 
not  write  to  my  nieces.  It  is  you,  their  grandmother, 
who  have  such  ideas  on  family  etiquette!  You  con- 
sider that  your  son,  fifty  years  old,  is  obliged  to  write 
to  his  nieces!  My  nieces  ought  to  feel  very  much 
honoured  and  very  happy  when  I  address  a  few  words 
to  them;  certainly  their  letters  are  nice,  and  always 
give  me  pleasure." 1  A  postscript  to  the  letter  con- 
tains the  words:  "Leave  the  house  in  the  Rue  For- 
tunee  as  little  as  possible,  I  beg  you,  because,  though 
Fran9ois  is  good  and  faithful,  he  is  not  very  clever, 
and  may  easily  do  stupid  things." 

Balzac  followed  this  with  another  letter,  which 
apparently  impressed  on  his  mother  that  to  please 
the  Wierzchownia  family  she  must  behave  very  well 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  373. 


322  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

to  him;  and  this  communication  naturally  annoyed 
Madame  de  Balzac  even  more  than  the  preceding 
one. 

In  reply,  she  wrote  a  severe  reprimand  to  her  son, 
in  which  she  addressed  him  as  "vous,"  and  remarked 
that  her  affection  in  future  would  depend  on  his  con- 
duct. In  fact,  as  Balzac  wrote  hotly  to  Laure,  it 
was  the  letter  of  a  mother  scolding  a  small  boy,  and 
he  was  fifty  years  old !  Unfortunately,  too,  it  arrived 
during  the  dejeuner,  and  Balzac  cried  out  impul- 
sively, "My  mother  is  angry  with  me!"  and  then 
was  forced  to  read  the  letter  to  the  party  assembled. 
It  made  a  very  bad  impression,  as  it  showed  that 
either  he  was  a  bad  son,  or  his  mother  an  extremely 
difficult  person  to  get  on  with.  Fate  had  chosen  an 
unfavourable  moment  for  the  arrival  of  this  missive, 
which,  later  on,  when  her  wrath  had  abated,  Madame 
de  Balzac  announced  that  she  had  written  partly  in 
jest.  Balzac  had  at  last  been  allowed  to  write  to  St. 
Petersburg,  to  beg  the  Czar's  permission  for  his  mar- 
riage with  Madame  Hanska,  and  this  had  been  very 
decidedly  refused.  Madame  Hanska  was  not  at  this 
time  prepared  to  hand  over  her  capital  to  her  daugh- 
ter, and  thus  to  take  the  only  step  which  would  have 
induced  her  Sovereign  to  authorise  her  to  leave  his 
dominions.  She  therefore  talked  of  breaking  off  the 
engagement,  and  of  sending  Balzac  to  Paris,  to  sell 
everything  in  the  Rue  Fortunee.  She  was  tired  of 
struggling ;  and  in  Russia  she  was  rich,  honoured,  and 
comfortable,  whereas  she  trembled  to  think  of  the 
troublous  life  which  awaited  her  as  Madame  Honore 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  323 

de  Balzac.  Madame  de  Balzac's  letter  further 
strengthened  her  resolve.  Apparently,  in  addition 
to  evidence  about  family  dissensions,  it  contained  dis- 
quieting revelations  about  the  discreditable  Henri, 
and  the  necessity  for  supporting  the  Montzaigle 
grandchildren;  and  the  veil  with  which  Balzac  had 
striven  to  soften  the  aspect  of  the  family  skeletons 
was  violently  withdrawn.  He  was  in  despair.  At 
this  juncture  his  mother's  communication  was  fatal! 
She  had  done  irreparable  mischief! 

The  long  letter  he  wrote  to  Madame  Surville,1 
imploring  her  to  act  as  peacemaker,  and  insisting 
on  the  benefits  which  his  marriage  would  bring  to  the 
whole  family,  would  be  comical  were  it  not  for  the 
writer's  real  trouble  and  anxiety;  and  the  reader's 
knowledge  that,  underlying  the  common-sense  worldly 
arguments — which  were  brought  forward  in  the  hope 
of  inducing  his  family  to  help  him  by  all  the  means 
in  their  power — was  real  romantic  love  for  the  woman 
who  had  now  been  his  ideal  for  sixteen  years. 

He  put  the  case  to  Madame  Surville  as  if  it  were 
her  own,  and  asked  what  her  course  would  be  if  she 
were  rich,  and  Sophie  an  heiress  with  many  suitors. 
Sophie,  according  to  her  uncle's  hypothesis,  was  in 
love  with  a  young  sculptor;  and  her  parents  had  per- 
mitted an  engagement  between  the  two.  The  sculp- 
tor, however,  came  to  live  in  the  same  house  with  his 
fiancee,  and  his  family  wrote  him  letters  which  he 
showed  to  Madame  Surville,  containing  damaging 
revelations  about  family  matters.  As  a  culminating 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  .378. 


324  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

indiscretion,  his  mother  wrote  to  this  sculptor,  "who 
is  David,  or  Pradier,  or  Ingres,"  a  letter  in  which  she 
treated  him  like  a  street  boy.  What  would  Laure 
do  in  these  circumstances?  Balzac  asks.  Would  she 
not  in  disgust  dismiss  the  sculptor,  and  choose  a  more 
eligible  parti  for  Sophie?  "Unsatisfactory  mar- 
riages," he  remarks  sagely,  "are  easily  made;  but 
satisfactory  ones  require  infinite  precautions  and 
scrupulous  attention,  or  one  does  not  get  married ;  and 
I  am  at  present  most  likely  to  remain  a  bachelor." 

He  appeals  to  Madame  Surville's  self-interest. 
"Reflect  on  the  fact,  my  dear  Laure,  that  not  one 
of  us  can  be  said  to  have  arrived  at  our  goal,  and 
that  if,  instead  of  being  obliged  to  work  in  order  to 
live,  I  were  to  become  the  husband  of  a  most  intel- 
lectual, well  born  and  highly  connected  woman,  with 
a  solid  though  small  fortune — in  spite  of  this  woman's 
desire  to  remain  in  her  own  country  and  to  make  no 
new  relations,  even  family  ones — I  should  be  .in  a 
much  more  favourable  position  to  be  useful  to  you 
all.  I  know  that  Madame  Hanska  would  show 
kindness  to  and  feel  keen  interest  in  your  dear  little 
ones." 

Surely,  he  says,  it  will  be  an  advantage  to  the  whole 
family,  when  he  has  a  salon  presided  over  by  a  beau- 
tiful, clever  woman,  imposing  as  a  queen,  where  he 
can  assemble  the  elite  of  Parisian  society.  He  does 
not  wish  to  be  tyrannical  or  overbearing  with  his  fam- 
ily, but  he  informs  them  that  it  will  be  of  no  use  to 
place  themselves  in  opposition  to  such  a  woman.  He 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  328. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  325 

warns  them  that  she  and  her  children  will  never  for- 
give those  who  blame  him  to  them.  Further  on  in 
his  lengthy  epistle,  he  gives  instructions  in  deport- 
ment, and  tells  his  relations  that  in  their  intercourse 
with  Madame  Hanska  they  must  not  show  servility, 
haughtiness,  sensitiveness,  or  obsequiousness;  but 
must  be  natural,  simple,  and  affectionate.  It  was 
no  wonder  that  the  Balzac  family  disliked  Madame 
Hanska!  And  the  poor  woman  cannot  be  consid- 
ered responsible  for  the  feeling  evoked ! 

Towards  the  end  of  his  letter,  however,  the  reader 
forgives  Balzac,  and  realises  that  the  cry  of  a  des- 
perate man,  ill  and  suffering,  yet  still  clinging  with 
determined  strength  to  the  hope  which  means  every- 
thing to  him,  must  not  be  criticised  minutely.  "  Once 
everything  is  lost,  I  shall  live  no  longer;  I  shall  con- 
tent myself  with  a  garret  like  that  of  the  Rue  Les- 
diguieres,  and  shall  only  spend  a  hundred  francs  a 
month.  My  heart,  soul,  and  ambition  will  be  satis- 
fied with  nothing  but  the  object  I  have  pursued  for 
sixteen  years:  if  this  immense  happiness  escapes  me, 
I  shall  no  longer  want  anything,  and  shall  refuse 
everything!" 


CHAPTER  XVI 

1849—1850 


Peace  between  Balzac  and  his    family  —  Madame    Hanska's 

vacillations  —  Visit     to  Kiev  —  Marriage  —  Letters  to  his 

mother,   sister,  and  to  Madame  Carraud  —  Terrible 

journey  —  Madame  de  Balzac's   pearl    neck- 

lace   and     strange     letter  —  Balzac's 

married   life  —  Arrival   in    Paris 

THE  quarrel  between  Balzac  and  his  family  was 
quickly  made  up,  and  it  was  settled  that  his  mother 
should  —  if  she  wished  to  do  so  —  return  at  once  to 
Suresnes;  and  come  up  every  day  to  the  Rue  For- 
tunee,  taking  carriages  for  this  purpose  at  Balzac's 
expense.  However,  having  made  a  small  commotion, 
and  asserted  her  dignity  by  the  announcement  that 
she  felt  perfectly  free  to  leave  the  Rue  Fortunee 
whenever  she  chose  to  do  so,  Madame  de  Balzac's 
resentment  was  satisfied;  and  she  remained  there  till 
a  month  before  Balzac's  return  in  May,  1850,  when 
illness  necessitated  her  removal  to  her  daughter's 
house.1  The  nieces,  of  whom  Balzac  was  really  ex- 
tremely fond,  "sulked"  no  longer,  but  wrote  letters 
which  their  uncle  praised  highly,  and  which  he 

1  "  Une    Page    Perdue   de    Honor6   de    Balzac,"    by   the    Vicomte    de 
Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 

326 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  327 

answered  gaily  and  amusingly.  The  shadowy  cloud, 
too,  which  had  prevented  the  brother  and  sister  from 
seeing  each  other  clearly,  dispersed  for  ever;  and  one 
of  Honore's  letters  to  Laure  about  this  time  contains 
the  loving  words,  "  As  far  as  you  are  concerned,  every 
day  is  your  festival  in  my  heart,  companion  of  my 
childhood,  and  of  my  bright  as  well  of  my  gloomy 
days."  l 

It  is  curious  to  notice  that  Balzac's  thoughts  now 
turned  to  those  faithful  friends  of  his  youth,  who 
had  in  late  years  passed  rather  into  the  background 
of  his  life.  He  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Madame  Delan- 
noy,  who  had  been  a  mother  to  him  in  the  struggling 
days  of  his  half -starved  youth.  He  had  paid  off  the 
debt  he  owed  her,  but  he  said  he  would  never  be  able 
to  thank  her  adequately  for  her  tenderness  and  good- 
ness to  him.  He  thought  also  of  Dablin,  his  early 
benefactor;  and  he  remembered  the  old  days  at  Fra- 
pesle,  and  wrote  Madame  Carraud  a  most  affection- 
ate letter,  sending  messages  of  remembrance  to 
Borget  and  to  the  Commandant  Carraud,  and  inquir- 
ing about  his  old  acquaintance  Periollas.  The  Car- 
rauds,  like  others  in  those  revolutionary  days,  had  lost 
money;  and  Balzac  explained  that  though  owing  to 
his  illness  he  had  been  forbidden  to  write,  he  felt 
obliged  to  disobey  his  doctor's  commands,  that  Ma- 
dame Carraud  should  not  believe  that  true  friends 
should  not  fail  each  other  in  trouble.  He  says:  "I 
have  never  ceased  thinking  about  you,  loving  you, 
talking  of  you,  even  here,  where  they  have  known 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  420. 


328  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

Borget  since  1833.  .  .  .  How  different  life  is 
from  the  height  of  fifty  years,  and  how  far  we  are 
often  from  our  hopes!  .  .  .  How  many  objects, 
how  many  illusions  have  been  thrown  overboard!  and 
except  for  the  affection  which  continues  to  grow,  I 
have  advanced  in  nothing! "  1 

The  annals  of  this  last  year  of  Balzac's  life  are  a 
record  of  constantly  disappointed  hope  and  physical 
suffering.  One  after  another  he  was  forced  to  give 
up  his  many  plans,  and  to  remain  in  suffering  inac- 
tion. He  had  intended  to  go  to  Kiev  to  present  him- 
self to  the  Governor  General,  but  this  expedition  was 
put  off  from  month  to  month  owing  to  his  ill  health. 
A  visit  to  Moscow  on  his  way  back  to  Paris  was 
another  project  which  had  to  be  abandoned,  as  he 
was  never  well  enough  to  make  his  proposed  visit 
to  France,  till  he  took  his  last  painful  and  difficult 
journey  in  April,  1850,  and  sight-seeing*  was  then 
impossible.  His  hopefulness,  however,  never  left 
him,  and  his  projected  enterprises,  whether  they  took 
the  shape  of  writings  or  of  travels,  were  in  his  eyes 
only  deferred,  never  definitely  relinquished.  The 
wearing  uncertainty  about  Madame  Hanska's  inten- 
tions was  the  one  condition  of  his  life  which  continued 
always,  if  continuance  can  be  considered  applicable 
to  anything  so  variable  as  that  lady's  moods.  In 
April,  1849,  Balzac  wrote  to  his  sister:  "No  one 
knows  what  the  year  1847,  and  February,  1848,  and 
above  all  the  doubt  as  to  what  my  fate  will  be,  have 
cost  me!"2 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  422. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  392. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  329 

Sometimes  Madame  Hanska,  cruelly  regardless 
of  the  agony  she  caused  the  sick  man  by  her  heedless 
words,  would  threaten  to  break  off  the  engagement 
altogether.  On  other  occasions  Balzac  would  write 
to  his  family  to  say  that,  for  reasons  which  he  was 
unable  to  give  in  his  letters,  the  question  of  the  mar- 
riage was  postponed  indefinitely;  and  once  he  made 
the  resolution  that  he  would  not  leave  Wierzchownia 
till  the  affair  was  settled  in  one  way  or  another.  In 
a  crisis  of  his  terrible  malady  he  wrote:  "Whatever 
happens,  I  shall  come  back  in  August.  One  must  die 
at  one's  post.  .  .  .  How  can  I  offer  a  life  as  broken 
as  mine!  I  must  make  my  situation  clear  to  the 
incomparable  friend  who  for  sixteen  years  has  shone 
on  my  life  like  a  beneficent  star." 

The  relations  between  Balzac  and  Madame  Hanska 
at  this  time  are  mysterious.  He  shows  his  usual  cau- 
tion in  his  letters  to  his  family,  and  the  reader  is, 
conscious  that  much  was  passing  at  Wierchownia  on 
which  Balzac  is  absolutely  silent,  and  that  many 
events  that  he  does  record  are  carefully  arranged 
with  the  intention  of  conveying  certain  impressions 
to  his  hearers.  One  of  his  motives  is  clear.  He  was 
nervously  afraid  that  gossip  about  his  secret  engage- 
ment, and  possibly  approaching  marriage,  should  be 
spread  abroad  prematurely;  and  that  the  report  might 
either  frighten  Madame  Hanska  into  dismissing  him 
altogether,  or  might  reach  the  ears  of  her  relations, 
and  cause  them  to  remonstrate  with  her  anew  on  the 
folly  of  her  proceedings. 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.    ii.    p.    401. 


330  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

Other  discrepancies  are  puzzling.  All  through 
1849  Balzac,  as  we  have  seen,  was  very  ill.  He  was 
suffering  from  aneurism  of  the  heart,  a  complaint 
which  the  two  doctors  Knothe  told  him  they  could 
cure.  With  perfect  faith  in  their  powers,  Balzac 
wrote  to  his  sister  expressing  regret  that,  owing  to 
the  ignorance  of  the  French  doctors  Soulie  had  been 
allowed  to  die  of  this  malady,  when  he  might  have  been 
saved  if  Dr.  Knothe's  treatment  had  been  followed. 
The  younger  doctor,  however,  soon  gave  up  Balzac's 
case  as  hopeless;  but  the  father,  who  was  very  inti- 
mate with  the  Wierzchownia  family,  always  expressed 
himself  confidently  about  his  patient's  ultimate  recov- 
ery; and  Balzac  wrote:  "What  gratitude  I  owe  to 
this  doctor!  He  loves  violins:  when  once  I  am  at 
Paris  I  must  find  a  Stradivarius  to  present  to  him." 

Dr.  Knothe's  principal  prescription  was  pure 
lemon  juice.  This  was  to  be  taken  twice  a  day,  to 
purify  and  quicken  the  circulation  of  the  blood  in 
the  veins,  and  to  re-establish  the  equilibrium  between 
it  and  the  arterial  blood.  Either  as  a  consequence 
of  this  treatment,  or  in  the  natural  course  of  the  ill- 
ness, a  terrible  crisis  took  place  in  June,  1849,  during 
which  Balzac's  sufferings  were  intense;  and  for 
twenty-five  hours  the  doctor  never  left  him.  After 
this  he  was  better  for  a  time,  and  though  his  eyesight 
had  become  so  weak  that  he  was  unable  to  read  at 
night,  he  could  walk,  go  upstairs,  and  lie  flat  in  bed. 
In  October  he  was  seized  with  what  he  called  Mol- 
davian fever,  a  disease  which  came,  he  said,  from  the 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  404. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  331 

swamps  of  the  Danube,  and  ravaged  the  Odessa  dis- 
trict and  the  steppes;  and  again  he  became  danger- 
ously ill.  In  January,  1850,  the  fever  was  followed 
by  a  terrible  cold  in  his  lungs,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
remain  for  ten  days  in  bed.  However,  he  was  cheered 
by  the  society  of  Madame  Hanska  and  Madame 
Georges  Mniszech,  who  showed  "  adorable  goodness  " 
in  keeping  him  company  during  his  imprisonment. 

After  hearing  all  this,  it  is  startling  to  read  in  a 
letter  from  Madame  Honore  de  Balzac  to  her  daugh- 
ter written  from  Frankfort  on  May  16th,  1850,1  that 
it  is  awkward  that  she  should  know  nothing  of  the 
regimen  to  which  Balzac  has  been  subjected  by  Dr. 
Knothe;  because  when  they  arrive  in  Paris,  his  own 
doctor  is  certain  to  ask  for  particulars!  The  most 
indifferent  hostess  could  not  fail,  one  would  think, 
to  interest  herself  sufficiently  about  the  welfare  of 
the  solitary  and  expatriated  guest  under  her  roof  to 
consult  with  the  doctor  about  him  when  he  was  dan- 
gerously ill.  More  especially  would  she  feel  respon- 
sibility, when  it  was  owing  to  her  own  action  that  the 
patient  was  cut  off  from  all  other  advice  except  that 
of  a  medical  man  who  was  her  peculiar  protege.  He 
would  thus  be  completely  in  her  charge;  and  she 
would  naturally  be  nervously  anxious,  for  her  own 
comfort  and  satisfaction,  to  acquaint  herself  with  the 
course  of  the  malady,  and  with  the  treatment  used  to 
subdue  it.  If  we  add  to  these  considerations  the  fact 
that  the  sufferer  was  not  a  mere  acquaintance,  was 

1  Unpublished  letter  in  the  possession  of  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelbrch 
de  Lovenjoul. 


332  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

not  even  only  a  great  friend;  but  was  the  man  who 
loved  her,  the  man  whose  wife  she  had  promised  to 
become,  Madame  Hanska's  ignorance  appears  totally 
inexplicable. 

We  must  remember,  however,  that  we  only  have 
Balzac's  account  of  his  illness,  and  of  his  interviews 
with  the  doctor;  and  that  the  malady  being  heart 
disease,  it  is  possible  that  Dr.  Knothe  considered  it 
his  duty  to  deceive  his  patient — possible  therefore 
that  Madame  Hanska  knew  before  her  marriage  that 
Balzac  was  a  dying  man,  and  that  the  doctor's 
prescriptions  were  useless. 

Owing  to  the  burning  of  her  letters,  we  have  only 
Balzac's  enthusiastic  and  lover-like  descriptions  to 
guide  our  idea  of  Madame  Hanska;  and  she  remains 
to  some  extent  a  shadowy  figure,  difficult  to  realise. 
Several  characteristics,  however,  stand  out  clearly: 
among  them  her  power  of  hiding  her  thoughts  and 
feelings  from  those  to  whom  she  was  most  deeply 
attached;  also  an  occasional  self-control,  which  seems 
strangely  at  variance  with  her  naturally  passionate 
and  uncontrolled  nature.  She  was  extremely  proud; 
and  the  wish,  while  pleasing  herself,  to  do  nothing 
which  would  lower  her  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  exer- 
cised a  powerful  influence  over  her  actions.  Intellec- 
tually brilliant,  a  clever  woman  of  business,  and 
mentally  active;  she  was  yet  on  some  occasions 
curiously  inert,  and  carried  the  state  of  mind  em- 
bodied in  the  words  "  live  and  let  live,"  to  dangerous 
lengths.  She  must  have  possessed  great  determina- 
tion, as  even  Balzac's  adoration,  and  his  undoubted 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  333 

powers  of  fascination,  could  not  move  her  from  the 
vacillations  which,  designedly  or  no,  kept  him  en- 
chained at  her  feet  while  she  remained  free. 

Among  much,  however,  in  her  character  that  we 
cannot  admire,  she  possessed  one  virtue  in  perfection 
—that  of  maternal  love.  The  bond  of  affection 
between  the  mother  and  her  daughter  Anna  was 
strong  and  enduring,  and  Madame  Hanska  would 
willingly  have  sacrificed  everything  for  her  beloved 
child's  happiness.  This  was  the  true,  engrossing 
love  of  her  life;  her  affection  for  Balzac  not  having 
remained  in  its  first  freshness,  as  his  love  for  her  had 
done.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  at  this  time  slightly 
withered,  and  had  been  partially  stifled  by  prudential 
considerations,  so  that  it  was  difficult  to  discover 
among  the  varied  and  tangled  growths  which 
surrounded  it. 

It  is  an  interesting  problem  whether  Balzac,  in 
spite  of  his  brave  words,  realised  that  Madame 
Hanska  no  longer  cared  for  him.  When  he  wrote 
that  he  was  sure  that  none  of  these  deferments  pro- 
ceeded from  want  of  love,  did  he  pen  these  words 
with  a  wistful  attempt  to  prove  to  himself  that  the 
fact  was  as  he  stated?  After  eighteen  months  in  the 
same  house  with  Madame  Hanska,  could  he  really 
believe  that  only  material  difficulties  kept  her  apart 
from  him?  Or  did  he  at  last  understand:  and  though 
stricken  to  death,  cling  still,  for  the  sake  of  his  pride 
and  his  lost  illusions,  to  what  had  been  for  so  long 
his  one  object  in  life?  We  do  not  know. 

The  only  thing  of  which  we  are  certain  is,  that  if 


334  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

the  fact  of  Madame  Hanska's  indifference  had  slowly 
and  painfully  dawned  upon  Balzac,  he  would  never 
have  told,  and  would  have  used  words  to  hide  his 
knowledge. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  sometimes  a  ring  of 
truth  about  his  words,  which  seems  to  prove  that  he 
had  not  yet  tasted  the  full  bitterness  of  the  tragedy 
of  his  life.  On  November  29th,  1849,  he  wrote  to 
Madame  Surville:1  "It  is  the  recompense  of  your 
life  to  possess  two  such  children;  you  must  not  be 
unjust  to  fate;  you  ought  to  be  willing  to  accept 
many  misfortunes.  The  case  is  the  same  with  me 
and  Madame  Hanska.  The  gift  of  her  affection 
accounts  to  me  for  all  my  troubles,  my  worries,  and 
my  terrible  labours.  I  have  been  paying  in  advance 
the  price  of  this  treasure:  as  Napoleon  says,  every- 
thing is  paid  for  here,  nothing  is  stolen.  I  seem, 
indeed,  to  have  paid  very  little.  Twenty-five  years 
of  work  and  struggle  are  nothing  compared  to  a  love 
so  splendid,  so  radiant,  so  complete.  I  have  been 
fourteen  months  in  a  desert,  for  it  is  a  desert ;  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  they  have  passed  like  a  dream, 
without  an  hour's  weariness,  without  a  single  dispute ; 
and  that  after  five  years  of  travel  together,  and 
sixteen  years  of  intimate  acquaintance,  our  only 
troubles  have  been  caused  by  the  state  of  our  health 
and  by  business  matters." 

When  he  wrote  these  words,  Balzac  must  have  at 
last  felt  tolerably  confident  about  a  happy  solution 
to  his  troubles.  However,  in  a  later  letter  to  his 

"  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  426. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  335 

mother,  he  says  that  the  Wierzchownia  party  are 
going  to  Kiev  for  the  great  Fair,  that  he  will  avail 
himself  of  this  occasion  for  the  renewal  of  his  pass- 
port, and  that  he  will  not  know  till  he  arrives  there, 
whether  the  great  event  will  at  last  take  place.  In 
any  case,  he  will  start  for  France  directly  after  the 
party  return  to  Wierzchownia  in  the  beginning  of 
February ;  and  as  caution  is  still  highly  important,  his 
mother  must  judge  from  his  directions  about  the  Rue 
Fortunee,  whether  he  is  coming  back  alone  or  is 
bringing  his  bride  with  him.  She  is,  in  any  case,  not 
to  be  sparing  about  fires  in  the  library  and  the  picture 
gallery;  and  can  write  to  him  at  Berlin,  and  at 
Frankfort,  on  his  way  home. 

The  great  Fair  at  Kiev,  which  was  called  the 
"  Foire  des  Contrats,"  was  a  notable  occasion  for 
gaiety;  and  extensive  preparations  were  made  before- 
hand for  the  enjoyment  of  a  thoroughly  festive  time. 
A  house  was  hired  by  Madame  Hanska  and  the 
Mniszechs,  and  furniture,  carriages,  and  servants 
were  despatched  in  advance.  The  weather,  however, 
was  an  important  consideration ;  and  on  this  occasion, 
owing  to  the  unusual  inclemency  of  the  season,  the 
roads  were  unfortunately  impassable,  so  that  the 
pleasure  trip  had  to  be  deferred  from  the  middle  till 
the  end  of  February.  This  was  no  doubt  a  sad 
disappointment  to  the  Countess  Anna,  who  thereby 
missed  much  enjoyment,  and  the  delay  must  have 
caused  intense  irritation  to  the  impatient  Balzac,  but 
Madame  Hanska's  feelings  on  the  subject  remain,  as 
usual,  enigmatical. 


336  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

When  the  Wierzchownia  party  at  last  arrived  at 
Kiev,  Madame  Georges  Mniszech  found  plenty  of 
gaiety  awaiting  her,  and  enjoyed  herself  immensely, 
going  out  to  balls  in  costumes  of  regal  magnificence. 
Her  partners  were  often  very  rough,  and  on  one 
occasion  Balzac  relates  that  a  handkerchief  belonging 
to  the  young  Countess,  which  had  cost  more  than  500 
francs,  was  torn  to  pieces  in  a  figure  of  the  mazurka, 
in  which  men  contend  for  the  dancer's  handkerchief. 
However,  "La  mere  adorable"  at  once  repaired  the 
deficiency  in  her  daughter's  trousseau  by  presenting 
her  with  one  of  the  best  of  her  own,  "twice  as  fine, 
with  only  linen  enough  to  blow  one's  nose  on,  all  the 
rest  being  English  point  lace." 

Balzac  was  unable  to  be  present  at  any  of  these 
festivities,  as  the  journey  to  Kiev  had  caused  him 
acute  suffering ;  and  two  days  after  his  arrival,  while 
lie  was  paying  his  State  visits  to  the  authorities,1  he 
caught  the  most  violent  cold  he  had  ever  had,  and 
spent  the  time  of  his  stay  at  Kiev  in  his  bedroom, 
where  his  only  pleasure  was  to  see  the  Countess  Anna 
before  she  started  for  her  parties,  and  to  admire  her 
beautiful  clothes.  He  ascribes  his  malady  to  "  a  ter- 
rible and  deleterious  blast  of  wind  called  the  *  chasse- 
neige,'  which  travels  by  the  course  of  the  Dnieper, 
and  perhaps  comes  from  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea," 
and  which  managed  to  penetrate  to  him,  though  he 
was  wrapped  up  with  furs  so  that  no  spot  seemed 
left  for  the  outside  air  to  reach.  He  was  now  very 
ill,  and  the  slightest  agitation,  even  a  sentence  spoken 

1  "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  436. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  337 

rather  loudly  in  his  presence,  would  bring  on  a 
terrible  fit  of  suffocation.  He  still  hoped  to  return 
to  Paris  before  long,  and  clung  to  the  idea  that  his 
wife  would  accompany  him;  but  he  said  it  would  be 
impossible  to  travel  without  a  servant,  as  he  was 
unable  to  carry  a  parcel  or  to  move  quickly.  As  he 
remarks,  "Tout  cela  n'est  pas  gai!" 

However,  his  expedition  and  its  attendant  sufFer- 
jng  were  not  useless,1  as  the  "  four  or  five  successive 
illnesses  and  the  sufferings  from  the  climate,  which 
I  have  laughed  at  for  her  sake,  have  touched  that 
noble  soul;  so  that  she  is,  as  a  sensible  woman,  more 
influenced  by  them  than  afraid  of  the  few  little  debts 
which  remain  to  be  paid,  and  I  see  that  everything 
will  go  well."  On  March  llth,  1850,  he  writes  from 
Berditchef  that  "  everything  is  now  arranged  for  the 
affair  his  mother  knows  of,"  but  that  the  greatest 
discretion  is  still  necessary.  Madame  de  Balzac  is 
given  minute  directions  about  the  flowers  which  are 
to  decorate  the  house  in  the  Rue  Fortunee,  as  a 
surprise  to  Madame  Honore;  and  as  we  read,  we  can 
imagine  Balzac's  pride  and  delight  when  he  wrote 
the  name.  His  ailments  and  sufferings  are  for- 
gotten, and  the  letter  sounds  as  though  written  by 
an  enthusiastic  boy.  He  will  send  from  Frankfort 
to  let  Madame  de  Balzac  know  the  exact  day  that  he 
and  his  bride  will  reach  Paris;  and  in  order  that  the 
mystery  may  be  preserved,  will  merely  say,  "Do  not 
forget  on  such  a  day  to  have  the  garden  arranged," 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  438. 
"Ibid.,  p.   444. 


338  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

and  his  mother  will  understand  what  he  means.  The 
whole  house  is  evidently  photographed  in  his  mind 
like  the  houses  in  his  novels.  He  knows  the  exact 
position  of  each  vase:  of  the  big  jardiniere  in  the 
first  room,  the  one  in  the  Japanese  drawing-room,  the 
two  in  the  domed  boudoir,  and  the  two  tiny  ones  in 
the  grey  apartment.  They  are  all  to  be  filled  with 
flowers;  but  the  marquetry  jardiniere  in  the  green 
drawing-room,  evidently  the  future  Madame  Ho- 
nore's  special  abode,  is  to  be  filled  with  "  belles,  belles 
fleurs! " 

The  wedding  took1  place  at  seven  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  March  14th,  1850,  at  the  church  of  Saint 
Barbe  at  Berditchef .  In  the  unavoidable  absence  of 
the  Bishop  of  Jitomir,  the  ceremony  was  performed 
by  the  Abbe  Comte  Czarouski,  whom  Balzac  calls  a 
holy  and  virtuous  priest,  and  likens  to  Abbe  Hinaux, 
the  Duchesse  d'Angouleme's  confessor. 

The  Countess  Anna  accompanied  her  mother,  and 
was  in  the  highest  spirits;  and  the  witnesses  were  the 
Comte  Georges  Mniszech,  the  Comte  Gustave  Olizar, 
brother-in-law  to  the  Abbe  Comte  Czarouski,  and  the 
cure  of  the  parish  of  Berditchef.  Madame  Honore 
de  Balzac  had  given  her  capital  to  her  children,  but 
received  in  exchange  a  large  income,  a  fact  which  she 
wisely  concealed  because  of  Balzac's  creditors;  and 
Balzac  speaks  with  admiration  of  her  noble  gener- 
osity and  disinterestedness,  in  thus  denuding  herself 
of  her  fortune. 

The  newly-married  couple  travelled  back  to  Wierz- 
chownia,  arriving,  quite  tired  out,  at  half-past  ten  at 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  339 

night ;  and  next  morning,  as  soon  as  he  woke,  Balzac 
wrote  to  inform  his  mother  of  the  great  event.  He 
explained,  with  a  well- justified  prevision  of  future 
discord,  if  the  elder  Madame  de  Balzac's  dignity  were 
not  sufficiently  considered,  that  his  wife  had  intended 
writing  herself  to  offer  her  respects,  but  that  her 
hands  were  so  swollen  with  rheumatic  gout  that  she 
could  not  hold  a  pen.  He  further  informed  his 
family,  who  had  hitherto  been  kept  in  ignorance  of 
the  fact,  that  from  the  same  cause  she  was  often 
unable  to  walk.  However,  this  did  not  depress  him, 
as  he  remarked  with  his  usual  cheerfulness  that  she 
would  certainly  be  cured  in  Paris,  where  she  would 
be  able  to  take  exercise  and  would  follow  a  prescribed 
treatment.  On  the  same  day  he  penned  a  delighted 
letter  to  his  sister,  containing  the  exultant  words: 
"  For  twenty- four  hours,  therefore,  there  has  now 
existed  a  Madame  Eve  de  Balzac,  nee  Rzewuska,  or 
a  Madame  Honore  de  Balzac,  or  a  Madame  de  Balzac 
the  younger."  He  could  hardly  believe  in  his  own 
good  fortune,  and  the  joyful  letter  finishes  with  the 
words,  "  Ton  frere  Honore,  au  comble  du  bonheur!" 
Two  days  later  Balzac  wrote  to  Madame  Carraud 
a  letter  in  which  he  said:  "  Three  days  ago  I  married 
the  only  woman  I  have  ever  loved,  whom  I  love  more 
than  ever,  and  whom  I  shall  love  till  death.  This 
union  is,  I  think,  the  recompense  which  God  has  had 
in  reserve  for  me  after  so  much  adversity,  so  many 
years  of  work,  so  much  gone  through  and  overcome. 
I  did  not  have  a  happy  youth  or  happy  springtide; 
I  shall  have  the  most  brilliant  of  summers  and  the 


340  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

sweetest  of  autumns."  In  his  newly-found  happi- 
ness he  did  not  forget  that  his  old  friend  was  now  in 
straitened  circumstances,  but  begged  her  from  him- 
self and  Madame  Honore  to  consider  their  house  as 
her  own:  "  Therefore,  whenever  you  wish  to  come  to 
Paris  you  will  come  to  us,  without  even  giving  us 
notice.  You  will  come  to  us  in  the  Rue  Fortunee 
as  if  to  your  own  home,  just  as  I  used  to  go  to 
Frapesle.  This  is  my  right.  I  must  remind  you  of 
what  you  said  to  me  one  day  at  Angouleme,  when, 
having  broken  down  after  writing  '  Louis  Lambert,' 
I  was  afraid  of  madness,  and  talked  of  the  way  in 
which  people  afflicted  in  this  manner  were  neglected. 
On  that  occasion  you  said,  '  If  you  were  to  become 
mad  I  should  take  care  of  you!'  I  have  never  for- 
gotten those  words,  or  your  look  and  expression.  I 
am  just  the  same  now  as  I  was  in  July,  1832.  It  is 
because  of  those  words  that  I  claim  you  to-day,  for 
I  am  nearly  mad  with  happiness." 

In  another  part  of  his  letter  he  tells  her:  "Ah!  I 
never  forget  your  maternal  love,  your  divine  sym- 
pathy with  suffering.  Therefore,  thinking  of  all 
you  are  worth,  and  of  the  way  in  which  you  are 
struggling  with  trouble,  I,  who  have  so  often  waged 
war  with  that  rough  adversary,  tell  you  that,  knowing 
your  unhappines,  I  am  ashamed  of  my  happiness; 
but  we  are  both  too  great  for  these  littlenesses.  We 
can  say  to  each  other  that  happiness  and  unhappiness 
are  only  conditions  in  which  great  hearts  live  in- 
tensely, that  as  much  strength  of  mind  is  required 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  448. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  341 

in  one  position  as  in  the  other,  and  that  misfortune 
with  true  friends  is  perhaps  more  endurable  than 
happiness  surrounded  by  envy." 

Balzac  was  not,  after  all,  destined  to  start  on  his 
journey  homeward  as  quickly  as  he  had  intended. 
His  health  was  terribly  bad,  his  eyes  had  become  so 
weak  that  he  could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  the 
chronic  heart  and  lung  malady  was  gaining  ground 
so  rapidly  that  his  breathing  was  affected  if  he  made 
the  slightest  movement.  It  was  absolutely  necessary 
that  he  should  rest  for  a  time  at  Wierzchownia  before 
attempting  any  further  exertion.  Another  delay 
was  caused  by  the  young  Countess  being  attacked  by 
measles.  Her  devoted  mother,  who  in  her  crippled 
state  could  not  attempt  any  active  nursing,  sat  by  her 
daughter's  bedside  all  day,  and  refused  to  leave 
Wierzchownia  till  her  anxiety  about  her  darling's 
health  should  be  over. 

It  was,  therefore,  not  till  the  end  of  April  that 
M.  and  Madame  Honore  de  Balzac  started  for  what 
proved  to  be  a  terrible  journey.  They  did  not  arrive 
in  Dresden  till  about  May  10th,  having  taken  three 
weeks  to  go  a  distance  which  ought  naturally  to  have 
been  accomplished  in  five  or  six  days.  The  roads 
were  in  a  fearful  condition,  and  their  lives  were  in 
danger  not  once,  but  a  hundred  times  in  the  day. 
Sometimes  fifteen  or  sixteen  men  were  required  to 
hoist  the  carriage  out  of  the  mud-holes  into  which  it 
had  fallen.  It  is  a  wonder  that  Balzac  survived  the 
torture  of  the  journey,  and  it  must  have  been  very 
trying  to  the  rheumatic  Madame  Honore.  When  at 


342  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

last  they  arrived  at  Dresden  they  were  both  utterly 
exhausted,  while  Balzac  was  extremely  ill,  and  felt 
ten  years  older  than  when  he  started.  His  sight  was 
so  bad  that  he  could  not  see  the  letters  that  he  was 
tracing  on  the  paper,  and  was  obliged  to  apologise  to 
his  correspondents  for  his  extraordinary  hieroglyph- 
ics, while  he  told  Madame  Surville  that  the  swollen 
condition  of  his  wife's  hands  still  rendered  it  impos- 
sible for  her  to  write. 

However,  Madame  Honore  was  well  enough  to 
amuse  herself  by  visits  to  the  jewellers'  shops,  where 
she  bought  a  magnificent  pearl  necklace,  a  purchase 
of  which  Balzac  evidently  approved,  as  he  remarked 
that  it  was  so  beautiful  that  it  would  make  a  saint 
mad!  On  his  part,  he  was  greeted  on  his  arrival  by 
a  new  vexation;  as  letters  from  Paris  told  him  of 
"  Vautrin  "  being  put  on  the  stage  without  his  permis- 
sion, and,  as  we  have  seen,  he  wrote  with  much  indig- 
nation, to  put  a  stop  to  this  infringement  of  his 
rights. 

An  interesting  letter  already  referred  to,  which  is 
now  in  the  possession  of  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch 
de  Lovenjoul,  is  dated  from  Frankfort,  the  travellers' 
next  stopping-place.  It  is  written  to  the  Countess 
Anna,  and  was  begun  by  Balzac,  and  finished  by  his 
wife.  About  Balzac's  part  of  the  letter  there  is  not 
much  to  remark,  except  that  he  was  evidently  very 
fond  of  his  step-daughter,  that  he  told  her  how  ill  he 
was,  and  that  the  handwriting  is  the  scrawl  of  a  man 
who  could  not  see.  His  high  spirits  indeed  have  dis- 
appeared, but  this  change  of  tone  is  easily  accounted 


I 
HONORE    DE    BALZAC  343 

for  by  the  state  of  his  health.  It  is  Madame  Honore's 
part  of  the  letter  which  strikes  the  reader  as  curiously 
inadequate.  It  is  dated  May  16th,  only  five  days 
after  Balzac's  letter  from  Dresden  informing  his 
family  of  his  wife's  inability  to  hold  a  pen,  and  is 
perfectly  written;  so  that  her  rheumatic  gout  must 
have  abated  suddenly.  She  begins  her  letter  by  com- 
menting placidly  on  the  sadness  of  seeing  the  suffer- 
ings of  our  "  poor  dear  friend,"  says  she  tries  in  vain 
to  cheer  him,  and  contrasts  regretfully  the  difference 
between  her  feelings  during  this  journey,  and  her 
happiness  when  she  last  visited  the  same  places,  with 
her  darling  child  at  her  side.  The  principal  subject 
in  her  letter,  however,  and  the  one  bright  spot  in  her 
present  rather  wearying  life,  is  the  wonderful  pearl 
necklace,  which  she  takes  out  of  its  case  conscien- 
tiously every  day,  that  the  air  may  preserve  the 
whiteness  of  the  pearls.  She  states,  indeed,  that  she 
does  not  care  much  about  it,  and  has  only  bought  it 
to  please  her  husband ;  but  it  seems  to  have  pressed  the 
unfortunate  husband  rather  into  the  background,  and 
to  have  become  the  chief  centre  of  its  owner's 
thoughts  and  solicitude. 

The  chilling,  unsatisfactory  impression  the  letter 
leaves  on  the  reader,  however,  is  not  conveyed  so  much 
by  what  is  said  by  Balzac's  newly-married  wife,  as  by 
what  she  leaves  unsaid.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  Countess  Eve  possessed  the  power  of  expressing 
herself  with  the  utmost  warmth,  and  with  even  exag- 
gerated emphasis,  when  she  saw  fit  occasion  for  a 
display  of  feeling.  We  must  also  keep  the  fact  in 


344  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

mind  that  in  writing  to  the  daughter  who  was  her 
intimate  friend,  she  would  naturally  give  some  indi- 
cations of  her  real  self;  and  though  it  might  be 
impossible  for  one  of  her  curiously  secretive  tempera- 
ment to  lift  the  veil  altogether,  and  to  open  her  heart 
without  reserve,  she  would  be  likely  in  some  way  to 
enable  the  reader  to  realise  her  mental  attitude. 
Therefore  it  is  disconcerting  and  disquieting  to  dis- 
cover that  the  one  noticeable  characterstic  of  the 
letter  is  utter  want  of  feeling.  No  anxiety  is  ex- 
pressed about  the  growing  illness  of  the  sick  man,  not 
a  word  tells  of  fears  so  terrible  that  she  hardly  dares 
breathe  them,  about  the  ultimate  result  of  his  malady ; 
on  the  contrary,  everything  is  taken  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  as  though  the  writer  had  expected  it 
beforehand.  There  is  not  even  a  recognition  of  Bal- 
zac as  her  husband;  he  is  merely  "our  poor  dear 
friend,"  a  person  for  whom  she  feels  vague  pity,  and 
in  whom  Anna's  degree  of  interest  is  likely  to  be  the 
same  as  her  own. 

Balzac  was  only  married  for  about  five  months, 
and  very  little  is  known  of  his  life  during  that  time. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  his  marriage  did  not  bring 
him  the  happiness  which  he  had  expected,  and  Madame 
Hanska's  letter  from  Frankfort  helps  to  explain  the 
reason  of  the  tragedy.  Perhaps  he  had  raised  his 
hopes  too  high  for  fulfilment  to  be  a  possibility  in 
this  world  of  compromise,  and  very  likely  his  suffer- 
ings  had  made  him  irritable  and  exacting.  Neverthe- 
less, so  quick  a  wearing  out  of  the  faithful  and  pas- 
sionate love  which  had  lasted  for  sixteen  years,  and 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  345 

so  sudden  a  killing  of  the  joy  which  had  permeated 
the  man's  whole  being  when  he  had  at  last  attained 
his  goal,  seems  a  hard  task  for  a  woman  to  accom- 
plish; and  can  only  be  explained  by  her  employment 
of  the  formless  yet  resistless  force  of  pure  indif- 
ference. 

Balzac's  awakening,  the  knowledge  that  the  abso- 
lute perfection  he  had  dreamed  of  was  only  an  ideal 
created  by  his  own  fancy,  must  have  been  inexpres- 
sibly bitter.  Utter  moral  collapse  and  vertigo  were 
his  portion,  and  chaos  thundered  in  his  ears  during 
his  sudden  descent  from  the  heights  clothed  with  bril- 
liant sunshine,  to  the  puzzling  depths,  where  he  groped 
in  darkness  and  sought  in  vain  for  firm  footing. 
"  Our  poor  dear  friend "  seems,  for  the  moment,  to 
have  merited  even  more  sympathy  than  the  measure 
accorded  to  him  by  his  wife,  in  her  intervals  of  leisure 
after  caring  for  her  pearl  necklace. 

Balzac's  mother  had,  as  we  have  already  seen,  taken 
up  her  abode  with  Madame  Surville,  long  before  the 
often-deferred  appearance  in  Paris  of  her  son  and 
daughter-in-law;  but  Honore  had  given  directions, 
that  at  any  rate  she  was  to  leave  the  Rue  Fortunee 
before  he  and  his  bride  arrived.  It  would,  he  said, 
compromise  her  dignity  to  help  with  the  unpacking, 
and  Madame  Honore  should  visit  her  mother-in-law 
next  day  to  pay  her  respects.  Balzac  was  anxious 
that  the  first  meeting  should  take  place  at  Laure's 
house  rather  than  at  Madame  de  Balzac's  lodging  at 
Suresnes,  as  it  was  now  impossible  for  him  to  mount 
any  steps,  and  there  were  fewer  stairs  at  No.  47  Rue 


346  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

des  Martyrs  than  at  his  mother's  abode.1  His  health, 
he  wrote,  was  so  deplorable  that  he  would  not  remain 
for  long  in  Paris,  but  would  go  with  his  wife  to  Biar- 
ritz to  take  the  waters. 

The  travellers  did  not  after  all  arrive  in  Paris 
till  near  the  end  of  May.  This  is  proved  by  a  letter 
from  Madame  de  Balzac 2  to  a  friend,  written  on  the 
UOth  of  that  month,  in  which  she  says  that  they  are 
now  expected  every  day,  but  that  their  progress  is 
a  slow  one,  owing  to  her  son's  illness  and  the  heavy 
condition  of  the  roads.  She  adds  that  she  has  now 
been  in  bed  for  three  months,  so  Laure  must  evidently 
have  acted  as  her  deputy  in  the  task  of  superintend- 
ing Fran9ois'  preparations  in  the  Rue  Fortunee.  No 
doubt  Francois  worked  strenuously,  as  he,  like  all 
Balzac's  servants,  was  devoted  to  his  master,  though 
on  this  occasion  he  unwittngly  provided  him  with  a 
ghastly  home-coming. 

The  travellers  did  not  arrive  at  the  Rue  Fortunee 
till  late  at  night.3  The  house  was  brilliantly  lit,  and 
through  the  windows  they  could  see  the  flowers  with 
which  the  rooms  were  decorated ;  but  in  vain  they  rang 
at  the  courtyard  gate — no  one  appeared  to  let  them 
in.  It  was  a  miserable  arrival,  and  utterly  inexplica- 
ble, as  Balzac  had  planned  the  arrangements  most 
carefully  beforehand,  going  minutely  into  commis- 
sariat details,  that  his  bride  might  find  everything 
absolutely  comfortable  on  her  arrival  in  her  new  home. 

1 "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ii.  p.  456. 

2 "  Une    Page   Perdue   de    Honor6    de    Balzac,"    by    the    Vicomte    de 
Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 

3 "  Un  Roman  d'Amour,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  347 

It  was  impossible  to  force  an  entrance,  so  M.  and 
Madame  Honore  de  Balzac,  utterly  worn  out  by  the 
fatigues  of  the  journey,  and  longing  for  rest,  were 
obliged  to  sit  in  the  carriage  and  spend  the  time  in 
agitation  and  conjecture,  while  a  messenger  was 
despatched  for  a  locksmith.  When  the  door  was  at 
last  opened,  a  terrible  solution  to  the  problem  pre- 
sented itself.  The  excitement  and  strain  of  the  prep- 
arations, and  of  the  hourly  expectation  of  the  travel- 
lers, had  completely  upset  the  mental  balance  of  the 
unfortunate  Francois,  and  he  had  gone  suddenly  mad! 
It  was  a  sinister  omen,  a  wretched  commencement  to 
Balzac's  home  life;  and  he,  always  superstitious,  was 
no  doubt  doubly  so  in  his  invalided  and  suffering  con- 
dition. Fran9ois  Munch  was  sent  to  a  lunatic  asylum, 
where  he  was  cared  for  at  his  master's  expense. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

1850  AND  AFTER 


Balzac's  ill-health — Theophile  Gautier  and  Victor   Hugo — Bal- 
zac's grief  about  the  unfinished    "Comedie  Humaine  " — 
Victor   Hugo's   account  of    his   death-bed — Death 
and   funeral — Life   afterwards    in   the    Rue 
Fortunee — Fate  of  Balzac's  MSS. — 
His    merit   as   a    writer 

WHEN  Balzac's  friends  came  to  visit  him  in  the  Rue 
Fortunee,  they  were  much  shocked  by  the  change  in 
his  appearance.  His  breathing  was  short,  his  speech 
jerky,  and  his  sight  so  bad  that  he  was  unable  to 
distinguish  objects  clearly.  Nevertheless,  as  Gautier 
says,1  every  one  felt  such  intense  confidence  in  his 
wonderful  constitution  that  it  seemed  impossible  to 
think  of  a  probably  fatal  result  to  his  malady.  Balzac 
himself,  optimistic  as  ever,  clung  persistently  to  his 
hope  of  speedy  recovery.  His  fame  was  now  at  its 
zenith,  the  series  entitled  "  Les  Parents  Pauvres  "  had 
awakened  the  utmost  enthusiasm ;  and  the  elite  of  the 
Parisian  world  were  eager  to  flock  to  the  Rue  For- 
tunee to  stare  at  the  curiosities  collected  there,  and 
to  make  the  acquaintance  of  Balzac's  rich  and  dis- 
tinguished Russian  wife. 

1 "  Portraits     Contemporains  :     Honor£     de     Balzac,"     by     Theophile 
Gautier. 

348 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  349 

However,  in  his  native  country,  Balzac  was  des-| 
tined  never  to  receive  a  full  guerdon  of  adulation  and,, 
admiration;    for   though   he   was   visited   by   a   few 
friends,  the  doctors  insisted  on  keeping  him  otherwise 
in  the  strictest  retirement. 

Theophile  Gautier  relates  that  he  went  to  the  Rue 
Fortunee  to  say  good-bye  to  his  friend  before  start- 
ing for  Italy,  and,  though  disappointed  not  to  see 
him,  was  relieved  about  his  health  when  told  that  he 
was  out  driving.  However,  a  little  later,  a  letter  was 
brought  to  Gautier  which  had  been  dictated  by  Bal- 
zac to  his  wife,  in  which  he  explained  that  he  had  only 
gone  to  the  Custom-house  to  get  out  some  luggage, 
and  had  done  this  against  the  express  orders  of  his 
doctors.  However,  he  spoke  cheerfully  of  his  health, 
saying  that  he  was  feeling  better,  and  that  the  next 
day  the  doctors  intended  to  attack  the  chronic  malady 
from  which  he  was  suffering.  For  two  months  at 
least  he  expected  to  be  kept  like  a  mummy,  and  not 
to  be  allowed  to  speak  or  move ;  but  there  were  great 
hopes  of  his  ultimate  recovery.  If  Gautier  came 
again,  he  hoped  for  a  letter  beforehand  naming  the 
day  and  hour,  that  he  might  certainly  be  at  home ; 
as  in  the  solitude  to  which  he  was  doomed  by  the  doc- 
tors, his  friend's  affection  seemed  to  him  more  pre- 
cious than  ever.  All  this  was  written  in  Madame  de 
Balzac's  handwriting,  and  under  it  Balzac  had 
scrawled:  "  I  can  neither  read  nor  write! "  Gautier 
left  for  Italy  soon  after  this,  and  he  never  saw  his 

1 "  Portraits     Contemporains  :     Honor6     de     Balzac,"     by     Theophile 
•Gautier. 


350  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

friend  again.  He  read  the  news  of  Balzac's  death  in 
a  newspaper  when  he  was  at  Venice,  taking  an  ice  at 
the  Cafe  Florian,  in  the  Piazza  of  St.  Mark;  and 
so  terrible  was  the  shock  that  he  nearly  fell  from 
his  seat.  He  tells  us  that  he  felt  for  the  moment 
unchristian  indignation  and  revolt,  when  he  thought 
of  the  octogenarian  idiots  he  had  seen  that  morning 
at  the  asylum  on  the  island  of  San  Servolo,  and  then 
of  Balzac  cut  off  in  his  prime ;  but  he  checked  himself, 
for  he  remembered  that  all  souls  are  equal  in  the 
sight  of  God. 

Victor  Hugo  also  visited  the  invalid,  and  says  that 
even  a  month  before  his  death  he  was  perfectly  con- 
fident about  his  recovery,  and  was  gay  and  full  of 
laughter,  discussing  politics,  stating  his  own  legitimist 
views  with  decision,  and  accusing  his  visitor  of  being 
a  demagogue.  He  said:  "I  have  M.  de  Beaujon's 
house  without  the  garden,  but  I  am  the  owner  of  the 
gallery  leading  to  the  little  church  at  the  corner  of 
the  street.  A  door  on  my  staircase  leads  into  the 
church.  One  turn  of  the  key,  and  I  am  at  Mass.  I 
care  more  for  the  gallery  than  for  the  garden." 

When  Victor  Hugo  got  up  to  go,  Balzac  accom- 
panied him  with  difficulty  to  this  staircase,  to  point 
out  the  precious  door;  and  called  to  his  wife,  "Mind 
you  show  Hugo  all  my  pictures."  Though  Balzac 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  very  intimate  with  the 
great  romantic  poet  in  former  years,  he  seems  to  have 
found  special  pleasure  in  his  society  at  this  time. 
Hugo  was  at  the  seaside  when  Balzac  next  sent  for 

1  "  Choses  Vues,"  by  Victor  Hugo. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  351 

him.  He  hurried  back,1  however,  at  the  urgent  sum- 
mons, and  found  the  dying  man  stretched  on  a  sofa 
covered  with  red  and  gold  brocade.  Balzac  tried  to 
rise,  but  could  not;  his  face  was  purple,  and  his  eyes 
alone  had  life  in  them.  Now  that  happiness  in  his 
married  life  had  failed  him,  his  mind  reverted  to  the 
yet  unfinished  "  Comedie  Humaine  " ;  and  he  talked 
long  and  sadly  of  projected  herculean  labours,  and  of 
the  fate  of  his  still  unpublished  works.  "Although 
my  wife  has  more  brains  than  I,  who  will  support  her 
in  her  solitude,  she  whom  I  have  accustomed  to  so 
much  love?"  "Certainly,"  Victor  Hugo  remarks 
drily,  "  she  was  crying  a  great  deal." 

Nevertheless,  though  Balzac  did  at  last  realise  his 
dangerous  state,  he  had  no  idea  that  his  end  was 
approaching  so  near,  and  he  still  hoped  to  be  able 
to  add  a  few  more  stones  to  the  edifice  of  the  "  Come- 
die Humaine,"  that  great  work  which  was  now  again 
the  principal  object  of  his  life,  the  one  bright  vision 
in  a  world  of  disappointment.  In  August,  however, 
an  agonising  suspicion  began  for  the  first  time  to  visit 
him  momentarily,  a  terrible  fear  to  assail  him.  What 
if  there  were  not  time  after  all?  What  if  the  crea- 
tions which  floated  through  his  mind  while  he  lay 
suffering  and  helpless,  were  never  destined  to  be 
put  into  shape?  What  if  his  opportunity  for  work 
on  earth  were  really  over?  It  was  a  horrible  idea;  a 
fancy,  he  told  himself,  born  only  of  weakness.  Des- 

^ee  letter  written  by  Madame  Hamelin  to  the  Countess  Kisselef 
quoted  in  "  Histoire  des  CEuvres  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoel- 
berch  de  Lovenjoul,  p.  406. 


352  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

tiny  must  intend  him  to  finish  his  appointed  task. 
Robbed  of  everything  else  he  had  longed  for,  that 
one  consolation  surely  remained.  He  would  ask  the 
doctor,  would  be  content  with  no  vague  and  soothing 
generalities,  but  would  insist  on  knowing  the  exact 
truth.  It  could  not — ah,  it  could  not  be  as  black  as 
the  nightmares  of  his  imagination ! 

He  approached  the  subject  cautiously  on  the  doc- 
tor's next  visit.1  Perhaps,  he  said,  he  had  after  all 
never  realise^  sufficiently  the  acuteness  of  his  malady. 
He  certainly  felt  terribly  ill,  and  knew  that  he  was 
losing  ground;  while,  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts,  he 
was  unable  to 'eat  anything.  His  duty  required  that 
he  should  bequeath  a  certain  legacy  to  the  public,  and 
had  calculated  carefully,  and  had  discovered  that 
he  would  be  able  in  six  months  to  accomplish  the 
task.  Could  the  doctor  promise  him  that  length 
of  time?  There  was  no  answer  to  this  searching 
question,  but  a  shake  of  the  head  from  the  pitying 
doctor.  "  Ah,"  cried  Balzac  sorrowfully,  "  I  see 
quite  well  that  you  will  not  allow  me  six  months. 
.  .  .  Well,  at  any  rate,  you  will  at  least  give 
me  six  weeks?  .  .  .  Six  weeks  with  fever  is  an 
eternity.  Hours  are  like  days  .  .  .  and  then 
the  nights  are  not  lost."  Again  the  doctor  shook  his 
head,  and  Balzac  once  more  lowered  his  claims  for  a 
vestige  of  life.  "  I  have  courage  to  submit,"  he  said 

1  The  following  account  of  Balzac's  interview  with  his  doctor  is  taken 
from  an  article  written  by  Arsene  Houssaye  in  the  Figaro  of  August  20th, 
1883.  It  is  right  to  add  that  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul, 
the  great  authority  on  Balzac,  throws  grave  doubts  on  the  accuracy  of 
the  story. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  853 

proudly;  "but  six  days  .  .  .  you  will  certainly 
give  me  that?  I  shall  then  be  able  to  write  down 
hasty  plans  that  my  friends  may  be  able  to  finish, 
shall  tear  up  bad  pages  and  improve  good  ones,  and 
shall  glance  rapidly  through  the  fifty  volumes  I  have 
already  written.  Human  will  can  do  miracles."  Bal- 
zac pleaded  pathetically,  almost  as  though  he  thought 
his  interlocutor  could  grant  the  boon  of  longer  life 
if  he  willed  to  do  so.  He  had  aged  ten  years  since  the 
beginning  of  the  interview,  and  he  had  now  no  voice 
left  to  speak,  and  the  doctor  hardly  any  voice  for 
answering.  The  latter  managed,  however,  to  tell  his 
patient  that  everything  must  be  done  to-day,  because 
in  all  probability  to-morrow  would  not  exist  for  him; 
and  Balzac  cried  with  horror,  "  I  have  then  only  six 
hours!"  fell  back  on  his  pillows,  and  spoke  no  more. 

He  died  the  next  day,  and  Victor  Hugo  gives  us 
one  more  glimpse  of  him.1  The  poet  was  told  by 
his  wife,  who  had  visited  Madame  de  Balzac  during  the 
day,  that  Balzac's  last  hour  had  come;  and  directly 
after  dinner  he  took  a  cab  and  drove  rapidly  to  the 
Rue  Fortunee.  "I  rang.  It  was  moonlight,  occa- 
sionally veiled  by  clouds.  The  street  was  deserted. 
No  one  came.  I  rang  a  second  time.  The  door  was 
opened.  A  servant  appeared  with  a  candle.  '  What 
does  Monsieur  want?'  she  said.  She  was  crying. 

"I  gave  my  name.  I  was  shown  into  the  room 
on  the  ground  floor.  On  a  pedestal  opposite  the  fire- 
place was  the  colossal  bust  of  Balzac  by  David.  In 
the  middle  of  the  salon,  on  a  handsome  oval  table, 

1 "  Choses  Vues,  1850  :  Mort  de  Balzac,"  by  Victor  Hugo. 


354  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

which  had  for  legs  six  gilded  statuettes  of  great 
beauty,  a  wax  candle  was  burning.  Another  woman 
came  in  crying,  and  said :  *  He  is  dying.  Madame 
has  gone  to  her  own  rooms.  The  doctors  gave  him  up 
yesterday.'  After  going  into  medical  details,  the 
woman  continued :  '  The  night  was  bad.  This  morn- 
ing at  nine  o'clock  Monsieur  spoke  no  more.  Ma- 
dame sent  for  priest.  The  priest  came,  and  adminis- 
tered extreme  unction.  Monsieur  made  a  sign  to 
show  that  he  understood.  An  hour  afterwards  he 
pressed  the  hand  of  his  sister,  Madame  Surville. 
Since  eleven  o'clock  the  death  rattle  has  been  in  his 
throat,  and  he  can  see  nothing.  He  will  not  last  out 
the  night.  If  you  wish  it,  Monsieur,  I  will  call  M. 
Surville,  who  has  not  yet  gone  to  bed.' 

"  The  woman  left  me.  I  waited  several  minutes. 
The  candle  hardly  lighted  up  the  splendid  furniture 
of  the  salon,  and  the  magnificent  paintings  by  Porbus 
and  Holbein  which  were  hanging  on  the  walls.  The 
marble  bust  showed  faintly  in  the  obscurity,  like  the 
spectre  of  the  dying  man.  A  corpse-like  odour  filled 
the  house. 

"M.  Surville  came  in,  and  confirmed  all  that  the 
servant  had  told  me.  I  asked  to  see  M.  de  Balzac. 

"We  crossed  a  corridor,  went  up  a  staircase  cov- 
ered with  a  red  carpet  and  crowded  with  artistic 
objects — vases,  statues,  pictures,  and  stands  with 
enamels  on  them.  Then  we  came  to  another  passage, 
and  I  saw  an  open  door.  I  heard  the  sound  of  dif- 
ficult, rattling  breathing.  I  entered  Balzac's  room. 

"  The  bedstead  was  in  the  centre  of  the  room.    It 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  355 

was  of  mahogany,  and  across  the  foot  and  at  the 
head  were  beams  provided  with  straps  for  moving 
the  sick  man.  M.  de  Balzac  was  in  this  bed,  his  head 
resting  on  a  heap  of  pillows,  to  which  the  red  damask 
sofa  cushions  had  been  added.  His  face  was  purple, 
almost  black,  and  was  inclined  to  the  right.  He  was 
unshaved,  his  grey  hair  was  cut  short,  and  his  eyes 
open  and  fixed.  I  saw  his  profile,  and  it  was  like  that 
of  the  Emperor  Napoleon. 

"An  old  woman,  the  nurse,  and  a  servant,  stood 
beside  the  bed.  A  candle  was  burning  on  a  table 
behind  the  head  of  the  bed,  another  on  a  chest  of 
drawers  near  the  door.  A  silver  vase  was  on  the  stand 
near  the  bed.  The  woman  and  man  were  silent  with  a 
kind  of  terror,  as  they  listened  to  the  rattling  breath- 
ing of  the  dying  man. 

"  The  candle  at  the  head  of  the  bed  lit  up  brilliantly 
the  portrait  of  a  young  man,  fresh-coloured  and  smil- 
ing, which  was  hanging  near  the  fireplace.  .  .  . 

"  I  lifted  the  coverlet  and  took  Balzac's  hand.  It 
was  covered  with  perspiration.  I  pressed  it.  He  did 
not  respond  to  the  pressure.  .  .  . 

"I  went  downstairs  again,  carrying  in  my  mind 
the  memory  of  that  livid  face,  and,  crossing  the  draw- 
ing-room, I  looked  again  at  the  bust — immovable, 
impassive,  proud,  and  smiling  faintly,  and(_I__com- 
pared  death  with  immortality. 'j 

Balzac  died  that  night,  Sunday,  August  17th,  1850, 
at  half-past  eleven,  at  the  age  of  fifty-one. 

The  dying  man's  almost  complete  isolation  is 
strange,  and  the  servant's  news  that  M.  Surville  had 


356  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

not  yet  gone  to  bed  has  a  callous  ring  about  it.  Per- 
haps, however,  the  doctors  had  told  Madame  de  Bal- 
zac and  Madame  Surville  that  Balzac  was  uncon- 
scious, and  they  had  therefore  withdrawn,  utterly 
exhausted  by  the  fatigues  of  the  night  before.  In 
any  case,  it  seems  sad,  though  possibly  of  no  moment 
to  the  dying  man,  that  several  of  his  nearest  relations 
should  have  deserted  him  before  the  breath  had  left 
his  body.  Our  respect  for  the  elder  Madame  de  Bal- 
zac is  decidedly  raised,  because,  though  there  had 
occasionally  been  disagreements  between  her  and  her 
son,  the  true  mother  feeling  asserted  itself  at  the  last, 
and  she  alone  watched  with  the  paid  attendants  till 
the  end  came. 

However,  some  one  was  busy  about  the  arrange- 
ments, as  Balzac's  portrait  was  taken  by  Giraud 
directly  after  his  death,  and  a  cast  was  made  of  his 
beautifully-shaped  hand.  His  body  was  taken  into 
the  Beaujon  Chapel  before  burial,  so  that  he  passed 
for  the  last  time,  as  Victor  Hugo  remarks,  through 
that  door,  the  key  of  which  was  more  precious  to  him 
than  all  the  beautiful  gardens  which  had  belonged 
to  the  old  Farmer-General. 

The  funeral  service  was  held  on  Wednesday, 
August  20th,  at  the  Church  of  Sainte  Philippe  du 
Roule.  The  rain  was  descending  in  torrents,  but  the 
procession,  followed  by  a  large  crowd,  walked  the 
whole  way  across  Paris  to  the  Cemetery  of  Pere-la- 
Chaise,  where  the  interment  took  place.  The  pall- 
bearers were  Victor  Hugo,  Alexandre  Dumas,  Mon- 
sieur Baroche,  and  Sainte-Beuve.  At  the  grave 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  357 

Victor  Hugo  spoke,  finishing  with  the  words :  "  No, 
it  is  not  the  Unknown  to  him.  I  have  said  this  before, 
and  I  shall  never  tire  of  repeating  it:  it  is  not  dark- 
ness to  him,  it  is  Light!  It  is  not  the  end,  but  the 
beginning;  not  nothingness,  but  eternity!  Is  not  this 
the  truth,  I  ask  you  who  listen  to  me?  Such  coffins 
proclaim  immortality.  In  the  presence  of  certain 
illustrious  dead,  we  understand  the  divine  destiny  of 
that  intellect  which  has  traversed  earth  to  suffer  and 
to  be  purified.  Do  we  not  say  to  ourselves  here, 
to-day,  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  great  genius  in  this 
life  to  be  other  than  a  great  spirit  after  death? " 

The  Cemetery  of  Pere-la- Chaise  had  been  one  of 
Balzac's  favourite  haunts  in  the  old  half-starved  days 
of  the  Rue  Lesdiguieres.  "Here  I  am  back  from 
Pere-la-Chaise,"  he  wrote  to  his  sister  in  1820,2  "  and 
I  have  brought  with  me  some  good  big  inspiring  re- 
flections. Decidedly,  the  only  fine  epitaphs  are  these: 
La  Fontaine,  Massena,  Moliere,  a  single  name,  which 
tells  all  and  makes  one  dream."  Probably  Madame 
Surville  remembered  these  words  and  repeated  them 
to  Madame  Honore  de  Balzac,  for  the  monument 
erected  to  Balzac  is  a  broken  column  with  his  name 
inscribed  on  it. 

The  fortunes  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Rue  For- 
tunee  were  not  happy  after  Balzac's  death.  Madame 
Honore  de  Balzac's  contemporaries  considered  that 
she  was  not  really  as  overwhelmed  with  sorrow  at  her 
husband's  death  as  she  appeared  to  be,  and  that  when 

1 "  Funerailles  de  Balzac,"  in  "  Actes  et  Paroles,"  by  Victor  Hugo. 
*  "  Correspondance,"  vol.  i.  p.  24. 


358  HONORS    DE    BALZAC 

she  wrote  heartbroken  letters,  she  slightly  exagger- 
ated the  real  state  of  her  feelings;  but  she  assumed 
gallantly  the  burdens  laid  upon  her  by  the  state  of 
pecuniary  embarrassment  in  which  her  husband  died. 
If  Balzac  had  lived  longer  and  had  been  able  to  work 
steadily,  there  is  little  doubt  that  he  would  in  a  few 
years  become  a  free  man,  as  the  Vicomte  de  Spoel- 
berch  de  Lovenjoul  tells  us 1  that  in  the  years  between 
1841  and  1847,  after  which  date  his  productions 
became  very  rare,  he  had  enormously  diminished  the 
sum  he  owed. 

Under  Balzac's  will  his  widow  might  have  refused 
to  acknowledge  any  liability  for  his  debts,  but  she  set 
to  work  bravely,  with  the  aid  of  MM.  Dutacq  and 
Fessart,  to  make  as  much  money  as  she  could  out 
of  Balzac's  published  works,  and  to  bring  before  the 
public  those  that  were  still  unpublished.  In  this  way 
"Mercadet  le  Faiseur"  was  acted  a  year  after  Bal- 
zac's death,  and  "Les  Petits  Bourgeois"  and  "Le 
Depute  d'Arcis  "  were  published,  the  latter  being  fin- 
ished, according  to  Balzac's  wish,  by  Charles  Rabou. 
"Les  Paysans,"  which  was  to  have  filled  eight  vol- 
umes, and  of  which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  only  a 
few  chapters  were  written,  presented  great  difficulty; 
but  at  last  Madame  de  Balzac,  aided  by  Champfleury 
and  by  Charles  Rabou,  managed  to  give  some  con- 
sistency to  the  fragment,  and  it  appeared  in  the  Revue 
de  Paris  in  April,  May,  and  June,  1855.  Unfor- 
tunately, however,  no  information  was  given  as  to 

"  La  Genese  d'un  Roman  de  Balzac,"  by  the  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch 
de  Lovenjoul. 


I 
HONORE    DE    BALZAC  359 

the  unfinished  state  in  which  it  had  been  left  by  Bal- 
zac, and  therefore  no  explanation  was  offered  of  the 
insufficiency  of  the  denouement,  and  the  inadequacy 
of  the  last  chapters.  Madame  de  Balzac  worked  hard, 
and  long  before  her  death  in  April,  1882,  the  whole 
of  Balzac's  debts  were  paid  off. 

This  was  most  creditable  to  her;  but  side  by  side 
with  her  admirable  conduct  in  this  respect,  she  seems 
to  have  either  actively  abetted,  or  at  any  rate  acqui- 
esced in  mad  extravagance  on  the  part  of  Madame 
Georges  Mniszech,  who,  with  her  husband,  had  come 
to  live  in  the  Rue  Fortunee  after  Balzac's  death. 
Perhaps  Madame  de  Balzac  was  too  busy  with  her 
literary  and  business  arrangements  to  pay  attention 
to  what  was  happening,  or  possibly  maternal  devotion 
prevented  her  from  denying  her  beloved  daughter 
anything  she  craved  for.  At  all  events  the  results 
of  her  supineness  were  lamentable,  especially  as  M. 
Georges  Mniszech  was  not  capable  of  exercising  any 
restraint  on  his  wife;  he  being  for  some  years  before 
his  death  in  1881  in  the  most  delicate  state  of  health, 
both  mental  and  physical. 

Madame  Georges  Mniszech — after  years  of  the 
wild  Russian  steppes,  suddenly  plunged  into  the  fas- 
cinations of  shopping  in  Paris,  and,  left  to  her  own 
devices — seems  to  have  shown  senseless  folly  in  her 
expenditure.  Additions  were  made  to  the  house  in 
the  Rue  Fortunee,  though  Balzac's  rooms  were  left 
untouched ;  and  the  Chateau  de  Beauregard,  at  Ville- 
neuve- Saint-Georges,  was  bought  as  a  country  resi- 
dence. Madame  de  Balzac  and  her  daughter  were, 


360  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

however,  rich,  and  could  quite  afford  to  live  com- 
fortably, and  even  luxuriously.  Their  ruin  seems  to 
have  brought  about  by  reckless  expenditure  on  things 
which  were  of  absolutely  no  use,  and  were  only  bought 
for  the  amusement  of  buying.  Several  sales  of  pic- 
tures took  place,  and  on  February  9th,  1882,1  the 
Chateau  de  Beauregard  and  its  contents  were  sold 
by  order  of  the  President  of  the  Civil  Tribunal  of 
Corbeil. 

Madame  de  Balzac  died  in  April  of  the  same  year ; 
and  the  very  day  of  her  funeral,  Madame  Georges 
Mniszech's  creditprs  pushed  her  and  her  maid  into 
the  street,  and  rifled  the  house  in  the  Rue  Fortunee. 
The  booty  was  transported  to  the  auction-room 
known  as  1'Hotel  Drouot,  and  there  a  sale  was  held 
by  order  of  justice  of  Balzac's  library,  his  Buhl  cabi- 
nets, and  some  of  his  MSS.,  including  that  of 
"Eugenie  Grandet,"  which  had  been  given  to  Ma- 
dame Hanska  on  December  24th,  1833.  During  the 
shameless  pillage  of  the  house,  the  vultures  who  ran- 
sacked it  found  evidence  of  the  most  reckless,  the  most 
imbecile  extravagance,  proof  positive  that  the  wis- 
dom, prudence,  even  the  principles  of  poor  Balzac's 
paragon  the  Countess  Anna,  had  been  routed  by  the 
glitter  and  glamour  of  the  holiday  city.  One  room 
was  filled  with  boxes  containing  hats,  and  in  another, 
piles  of  costly  silks  were  heaped,  untouched  since 
their  arrival  from  the  fashionable  haberdasher  or  silk 
mercer.2  Balzac's  treasures,  the  curiosities  he  had 
amassed  with  so  much  trouble,  the  pictures  of  which 

1 "  Life  of  Balzac,"  by  Frederick  Wedmore. 
2 "  Journal  des  Goncourts,"  vol.  viii.  p.  48. 


HONORE    DE    BALZAC  361 

he  had  been  so  proud,  were  ruthlessly  seized;  while 
precious  manuscripts  and  letters,  which  would  per- 
haps have  brought  in  a  hundred  thousand  francs  if 
they  had  been  put  up  for  sale,  were  thrown  out  of  the 
window  by  the  exasperated  throng. 

The  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul  rescued 
a  page  of  the  first  of  Balzac's  letters  to  Madame 
Hanska  which  has  been  found  up  to  this  time,  from 
a  cobbler  whose  stall  was  opposite  the  house.  The 
cobbler,  when  once  started  on  the  quest  by  the  Vi- 
comte, discovered  many  other  letters,  sketches,  and 
unfinished  novels,  which  had  been  picked  up  by  the 
neighbouring  shopkeepers,  and  were  only  saved  in  the 
nick  of  time  from  being  used  to  wrap  up  pounds  of 
butter,  or  to  make  bags  for  other  household  com- 
modities. It  was  an  exciting  chase,  requiring  patience 
and  ingenuity ;  and  Balzac's  former  cook  held  out  for 
years  before  she  would  consent  to  sell  a  packet  of 
letters  which  the  Vicomte  coveted  specially.  Some- 
times incidentally  there  were  delightful  surprises,  and 
occasionally  real  joys;  as  on  the  occasion  when  the 
searcher  found  at  a  distant  grocer's  shop,  the  middle 
of  the  letter  of  which  the  first  page  had  been  saved 
from  destruction  at  the  hands  of  the  cobbler. 

The  bitter  dislike  Balzac  had  evoked  in  the  literary 
world,  and  his  occasional  obscurity  and  clumsy  style, 
have  militated  very  strongly  against  his  popularity  in 
his  native  land,  where  perfection  in  the  manipulation 
of  words  is  of  supreme  importance  in  a  writer.  While 
in  France,  however,  Balzac's  undoubted  faults  have 
partially  blinded  his  countrymen  to  his  consummate 


362  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

merits  as  a  writer,  and  they  have  been  strangely  slow 
in  acknowledging  the  debt  of  gratitude  they  owe  to 
him,  the  rest  of  the  world  has  already  begun  to  realise 
his  power  of  creating  type,  his  wonderful  imagina- 
tion, his  versatility,  and  his  extraordinary  impar- 
tiality; and  to  accord  him  his  rightful  place  among 
the  Immortals.  Nevertheless  we  are  still  too  near  to 
him  to  be  able  to  focus  him  clearly,  and  to  estimate 
aright  his  peculiar  place  in  literature,  or  the  full  scope 
of  his  genius. 

Some  very  great  authorities  claim  him  as  a  member 
of  the  Romantic  School;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
is  often  looked  on — apparently  with  more  reason — 
as  the  first  of  the  Realists.    His  object  in  writing  was, 
;  he  tells  us,  to  represent  mankind  as  he  saw  it,  to  be 
the  historian  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  to  classify 
human  beings  as  Buffon  had  classified  animals.    No 
/doubt  this  scheme  was  very  imperfectly  carried  out: 
/   certainly  the  powerful  mind  of  Balzac,  with  its  wealth 
j      of  imagination,  often  projected  itself  into  his  pup- 
\     pets,  so  that  many  of  his  characters  are  not  the  ordi- 
V   nary  men  and  women  he  wished  to  portray,  but  are 
^inspired  by  the  fire  of  genius.)  This  fact  does  not, 
however,  alter  the  aim  of  their  creator.    He  intended 
to  be  merely  a  chronicler,  a  scientific  observer  of 
things  aroun 

a  large  extenFwith  the  Romanticism  of  the  power- 
ful scnr5t3^^m~v7igueiiTrms  day,  this]oBj£ci-marks  him 
plainly  as  the  forerunner  of  the  Realists,  the  founder 
of  a  totally  new  conception  of  the  scope  and  range  of 
the  novel. 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  36a 

Theophile  Gautier's  words  should  prove  to  the 
modern  reader  the  debt  of  gratitude  he  owes  to  the 
inaugurator  of  a  completely  original  system  of 
fiction.  Speaking  of  Balzac's  impecunious  and  ambi- 
tious heroes,  Gautier  cries:1  "O  Corinne,  who  on  the 
Cape  of  Messina  allowest  thy  snowy  arm  to  hang 
over  the  ivory  lyre,  while  the  son  of  Albion,  clothed 
in  a  superb  new  cloak,  and  with  elegant  boots  per- 
fectly polished,  gazes  at  thee,  and  listens  in  an  elegant 
pose:  Corrinne,  what  wouldst  thou  have  said  to  such 
heroes?  They  have  nevertheless  one  little  quality 
which  Oswald  lacked — they  live,  and  with  so  strong  a 
life  that  we  have  met  them  a  thousand  times."  Bal- 
zac's own  words,  speaking  of  his  play  "La  Ma- 
ratre,"2  might  also  serve  for  a  motto  for  his  novels; 
"  I  dream  of  a  drawing-room  comedy,  where  every- 
thing is  calm,  quiet,  and  amiable.  The  men  play 
whist  placidly  by  the  light  of  the  candles  with  little 
green  shades.  The  women  talk  and  laugh  while  they 
work  at  their  embroidery.  They  all  take  tea  together. 
To  sum  up,  everything  announces  good  order  and 
harmony.  Well,  underneath  are  agitating  passions; 
the  drama  stirs,  it  prepares  itself  secretly,  till  it  blazes 
fo£th  like  the  flame  of  a  conflagration." 
(^Balzac  is  essentially  a  Realist  in  his  use  of  the 
novel  as  a  vehicle  for  the  description  of  real  strug- 
gling lifeT^vith  money  and  position,  the  principal 
desiderata  of  modern  civilisation,  powerful  as  deter- 

1 "  Portraits     Contemporains  :     Honor6     de     Balzac,"     by     Thtophile- 
Gautier. 

* "  Historiettes  et  Souvenirs  d'un  Homme  de  Theatre,"  by  H.  Hosteiiv. 


364  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 

mining  factors  in  the  moulding  of  men's  actions. 
Life  as  portrayed  in  the  old-fashioned  novel,  where 
the  hero  and  heroine  and  their  love  aif airs  were  the 
sole  focus  of  attraction,  and  the  other  characters  were 
grouped  round  in  subordinate  positions,  while  every 
one  declined  in  interest  as  he  advanced  in  years,  was 
not  life  as  Balzac  saw  it;  and  he  pictures  his  hero's 
agony  at  not  having  a  penny  with  which  to  pay  his 
cab  fare,  with  as  much  graphic  intensity  as  he  tells 
of  the  same  young  gentleman's  despair  when  his 
inamorata  is  indifferent  to  him. 

^""Nevertheless,  if  we  compare  Balzac  with  the 
depressing  writers  of  the  so-called  Realist  School, 
we  shall  find  that  his  conception  of  life  differed 
greatly  from  theirs.  A  In  Flaubert's  melancholy  books., 
even  perfection  of  style  and  painstaking  truth  of 
detail  do  not  dissipate  the  deadly  dulness  of  an  unreal 
world,  where  no  one  rises  above  the  low  level  of  self- 
gratification;  while  Zola  considers  man  so  completely 
in  his  physical  aspect  that  he  ends  by  degrading  him 
below  the  animal  worldr~Balzac,  on  the  other  hand, 
believed  in  purity,  in  devotion,  and  unselfishness; 
though  he  did  not  think  that  these  qualities  are  trium- 
phant on  eartnTl  In  his  pessimistic  view  of  life,  virtue 
generally  suffered,  and  had  no  power  against  vice; 
but  he  knew  that  it  existed,  and  he  believed  in  a  future 
^where  wrongs  would  be  righted. 

/      He  is  a  poet  and  idealist,  and  thus  akin  to  the 
\Romanticists — though  he  lacks  their  perfection  of 
diction — in  his  feeling  for  the  beauty  of  atmospheric 
effects,  and  also  in  his  enthusiasm  for  music,  which 


HONORS    DE    BALZAC  365 

he  loved  passionately.  J  The  description  of  Montri- 
veau's  emotions  when  the  cloistered  Duchesse  de 
Langeais  plays  in  the  church  in  Spain  —  and  Balzac 
tells  us  that  the  sound  of  the  organ  bears  the  mind 
through  a  thousand  scenes  of  life  to  the  infinite  which 
parts  earth  from  heaven,  and  that  through  its  tones 
the  luminous  attributes  of  God  Himself  pierce  and 
radiate  —  is  totally  unrealistic  both  in  moral  tone  and 
in  its  accentuation  of  the  power  of  the  higher  emo- 
tions. /His  intense  admiration  for  Sir  Walter  Scott 
—  an  arLmiration  which  he  expresses  time  after  time 
in  his  letters  —  is  a  further  proof  of  his  sympathy  for 
the  school  of  thought,  which  glorified  the  picturesaue 
Middle  Ages  above  every  other  period  of  history} 

Whichever  school,  however,  may  claim  Balzac,  it 
is  an  undisputed  fact  that  he  possessed  in  a  high 
degree  that  gre^£stpfall^ttributes—  thejjower^f 
C£eajtkmof^type.  Le  Fere  Gonot/^Baithazar  Claes, 
Old  Grandet,  La  Cousine  Bette,  Le  Cousin  Pons, 
and  many  other  people  in  Balzac's  pages,  are  crea- 
tions; they  live  and  are  immortal.  He  has  endowed 
them  with  more  splendid  and  superabundant  vitality 
than  is  accorded  to  ordinary  humanity. 

To  do  this,  something  is  required  beyond  keenness 
of  vision.     The  gift  of  seeing  vividly  —  as  under  a 
dazzling   light—  -tojfro   very   kernel   of 
stripped  of_supernumerary  circumstajirif,  is 


_ 

iccessary  f  orthe  portrayal  of  character  ;  but  although 
Dickens,"as  jvglljisJBalzac,  possessejJjijsjjWulty  to 
a  high  degree,  his  people  are  often  qualities  person 
ified,  orimpossible  mopstefs.     'For  tfaeTuccessful 


366  HONORE    DE    BALZAC 


creation  qfjype,  that  pnw^r  jn  whirb  TM™"1  I'R  nkin 
to  Shakespeare,  it  is  necessary  that  a  coherent  whole 
shall  be  formed,  and  that  the  full  scope  of  a  character 
shall  be  realised,  with  its  infinite  possibilities  on  its 
own  plane,  and  its  impotence  to  move  a  hairsbreadth 
on  to  another.  The  mysterious  law  which  governs 
the  conduct  of  life  must  be  fathomed  ;  so  that,  though 
there  may  be  unexpected  and  surprising  develop- 
ments, the  artistic  sense  and  intuition  which  we  possess 
shall  not  be  outraged,  and  we  shall  still  recognise  the 
abiding  personality  under  everything.  Balzac  excels 
in  this;  and  because  of  this  power,  and  also  because 
—  at  a  time  when  Byronic  literature  was  in  the  ascend- 
ant, and  it  was  the  fashion  to  think  that  the  quin- 
tessence of  beauty  could  be  found  by  diving  into  the 
depths  of  one's  own  being-rjie  came  forward  without 
jx)se  or  self  -consciousness,  as  a  simple  observer  of  the 
human  race,  the  world  will  never  cease  to  owe  him  a 
debt  of  gratitude,  and  to  rank  him  among  her  great- 
est novelists. 


INDEX 


Abrantes,  Duchesse  d',  6,  70;  her 
friendship  with  Balzac,  98;  her 
poverty,  99;  her  memoirs,  ib.; 
death,  99 

Abrantes,  Napoleon  d',  99 

Academic  Fran?aise,  elections  to 
the,  261,  314 

Aix,  144 

Ajaccio,  222 

Andrieux,  M.,  his  opinion  on  the 
play  "  Cromwell,"  69 

Angers,  David  d',  his  bust  of  Bal- 
zac, 246,  354 

Angouleme,  90 

Angouleme,  Duchesse  d',  43 

Annecy,  147 

Antwerp,  270 

"  Argow  the  Pirate,"  75 

Artois,  Comte  d',  78 

Assenvillez,  M.  d',  81 

"  Auberge  Rouge,  L',"  113 

Auger,  Hippolyte,  109 

Avignon,  270 

Avray,  Ville  d',  220,  225 

Bachelin,  M.,  "Balzac  a  Neufcha- 
tel,"  153  note 

Baden-Baden,  270 

Balssa,  Bernard  Francois,  106 

Balzac,  Henri  de,  26,  210;  his  char- 
acter, 27;  return  from  abroad, 
166 

Balzac,  Honor^  de,  1 ;  his  letters  to 
Madame  Hanska,  3,  5, 13;  travels, 
3;  versatility,  4,  8,  75,  180,  244, 
285,  362;  character,  5-8,  34,  44, 
58,  178,  189;  absorption  in  his 
work,  8,  66,  108;  reserve,  10,  62; 
vanity,  12;  absence  of  self-con- 


sciousness, 12;  "  Lettres  a  1'fitran- 
gere,"    13,   150;   his   appearance, 
15,   17,  170;  eyes,  16,   173;  per- 
sonality, 16;  intuition,  17;  dress, 
17;  fits  of  depression,  19;  imagi- 
nary characters,  21;  unpractical 
schemes,  22,  55,  61,  111,  180,  219, 
229,  241,  297,  302;  his  father,  25; 
birth,   24;    his   mother,    25;    her 
severity  towards  him,  28;  his  af- 
fection for  his  sister,  29,  32,  328; 
fear  of  his  mother,  33;  affection 
for  his  grandparents,  33;  his  life 
at   school,   34-39;    "Louis   Lam- 
bert," 35,  48 ;  love  for  the  scenery 
of  Touraine,  40;  his  tutors,  42; 
lessons  in  rhetoric,  43;  admira- 
tion  for   Napoleon,   44;   attends 
lectures  at  the  Sorbonne,  45;  his 
legal  studies,  46 ;  "  Un  fipisode 
sous    la    Terreur,"    ib.;    "T£ne'- 
breuse  Affaire,"  47;  "  C£sar  Birot- 
teau,"  47,  221 ;  his  failure  in  so- 
ciety, 48,  97;  "  Peau  de  Chagrin," 
48,  59,  64,  113,  117-9;  dislike  of 
the  legal  profession,  50;  trial  of 
his   literary   powers,    51 ;    estab- 
lished in  the  Rue  Lesdiguieres, 
52;  hardships  and  privations,  53- 
5,  70,  87,  301 ;  early  development 
of    his    character,    55;    Royalist 
principles,  57, 78 ;  his  play  "  Crom- 
well," 57,  64,  67;  ambitions,  57, 
179;    constancy,    57;    simplicity, 
58;   recreations,  59,  102,   169-70; 
conversational  powers,  60;  belief 
in   magnetism,   63,    176;    obliged 
to    live    at    home,    70;    discom- 
forts,   71,    76;    his    novels,    71- 


367 


368 


INDEX 


75,  243,  263;  pseudonyms,  73; 
political  essays,  75,  182;  friend- 
ship with  Madame  de  Berny,  76, 
89,  102,  128;  his  estimate  of  her, 
80;  publisher  and  printer,  81-5, 
failure  of  the  business,  84;  im- 
pending bankruptcy,  ib. ;  his  novel 
"Les  Chouans,"  86,  96,  102; 
pecuniary  difficulties,  86,  112, 
120,  160,  167,  181,  193,  223, 
278,  300,  308,  313;  death  of  his 
father,  88;  temptation  to  commit 
suicide,  89;  friendship  with 
Madame  Carraud,  90;  Auguste 
Borget,  92;  M.  Dablin,  93;  M. 
de  Margonne,  93;  La  Touche, 
94;  Duchesse  d'Abrantes,  98-9; 
George  Sand,  100-1;  his  novel 
"  Beatrix,"  101 ;  "  Physiologic  du 
Mariage,"  102;  his  right  to  the 
prefix  "de,"  103;  lawsuit  with 
the  Revue  de  Paris,  103,  111,  116, 
201;  his  family  name,  106;  pas- 
sion for  work,  107,  122,  164,  213; 
mode  of  writing,  108,  122,  244; 
his  letters  on  Paris,  110;  love  of 
Nature,  112;  disputes  with  Pichot, 
113-6;  "L'Auberge  Rouge,"  113; 
"Le  Maitre  Cornelius,"  113; 
withdraws  from  the  Revue  de 
Paris,  116,196;  "  Scenes  de  la  Vie 
Privee,"  116 ;  his  kindness  to  Jules 
Sandeau,  120;  extravagance,  121; 
number  of  his  publications,  121, 
160;  mode  of  living,  122;  method 
of  composition,  122-27;  unknown 
correspondents,  129;  relations 
with  the  Marquise  de  Castries, 
131,  145-6;  letters  from  Madame 
Hanska,  133,  149;  farewell  to 
Madame  de  Berny,  139;  direc- 
tions to  his  mother,  141,  284,  335, 
337,  345;  projected  marriage, 
142;  relations  with  women,  143, 
151,  208;  at  Aix,  144;  rupture 
with  the  Marquise  de  Castries, 
146;  mental  sufferings,  15L  275 1 
relations  with  Madame  HanskaJ 


151,  157,  158,  162,  163,  265-69, 
278,  315,  322,  329;  his  first  meet- 
ing with  her,  155 ;  "  fitudes  de 
Moeurs  au  XlXieme  Siecle,"  159; 
"Comedie  Humaine,"  160,  252-5; 
"Le  Medecin  de  Campagne,"  161; 
"Eugenie  Grandet,"  162;  at 
Geneva,'  162;  "Duchesse  de 
Langeais,"  163;, symptoms  of  ill- 
ness, 164;  "La  Recherche  de 
1'Absolu,"  164;  "  Le  Pere  Goriot," 
164;  cost  of  his  journey  to  Vien- 
na, 165;  republishes  his  early  nov- 
els, 166;  debts,  167,  194,  242,  247; 
his  portrait,  170-78;  belief  in 
somnambulism,  176;  personal 
charm,  179;  capacity  for  busi- 
ness, 180;  views  of  marriage,  181 ; 
attempts  to  become  a  deputy, 
182,  187;  his  accident,  185;  his 
political  views,  187,  303;  re- 
ligious views,  190;  proprietor  of 
the  Chronique  de  Paris,  192; 
friendship  with  Gautier,  194; 
contributions  to  the  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes,  197;  agreement 
with  Buloz,  198;  disputes  with 
the  proprietors  of  the  Revue 
de  Paris,  199-205;  attack  on 
journalism,  206,  260;  illness,  207, 
242,  246,  272,  336;  visits  to  Italy, 
208,  218,  224,  271;  relations  with 
Madame  Marbouty,  218;  on  the 
death  of  Madame  de  Berny,  210; 
imprisonment,  210;  at  Chaillot, 
211;  "La  Vielle  Fille,"  211;  on 
the  failure  of  Werdet,  212;  vari- 
ous compositions,  213;  agreement 
with  Bohain,  214;  correspondence 
with  "Louise,"  215;  his  room  in 
the  Rue  des  Batailles,  216;  starts 
the  association  of  the  "  Cheval 
Rouge,"  217;  his  villa  "Les 
Jardies,"  221, 225,  229 ;  at  Nohant, 
221;  his  journey  to  Sardinia,  223 ; 
at  Milan,  224;  his  scheme  for 
growing  pineapples,  229;  pro- 
jected plays,  230,  294;  "L'ficole 


INDEX 


3G9 


des  Manages,"  231,  233;  his  col- 
laborator, 231 ;  defence  of  Peytel, 
234;  mode  of  writing  his  play 
"Vautrin,"  237-9;  the  plot, 
240;  failure,  241;  relations  with 
Madame  Visconti,  242,  247;  at- 
tempt to  start  the  Revue  Pan- 
sic  nm.  244;  President  of  the 
Societ^  des  Gens-de-Lettres,  245; 
withdrawal,  246;  leaves  Les 
Jardies,  246;  on  the  death  of  M. 
de  Hanski,  247 ;  "  Les  Ressources 
de  Quinola,"  249-52;  at  St. 
Petersburg,  256;  meeting  with 
Madame  Hanska,  256;  love  for 
her,  t'6.;  impressions  of  Germany, 
258;  his  play  "Pamela  Giraud," 
260;  "Les  Paysans,"  263-4, 
289-93;  his  travels  with  Madame 
Hanska,  269-72;  at  Naples,  271; 
dispute  with  Girardin,  273,  289- 
293;  sufferings  from  neuralgia, 
261,  274;  at  Rome,  277;  pre- 
sented to  the  Pope,  i&.;  "La 
Cousine  Bette,"  278;  "  Le  Cousin 
Pons,"  ib.;  his  secret  engage- 
ment, 280;  his  house  in  the  Rue 
Fortunee,  283,  305-8;  anguish  at 
the  theft  of  Madame  Hanska's 
letters,  288;  destroys  them,  289; 
journey  to  Wierzchownia,  295; 
impressions  of  the  palace,  296; 
attentions  of  the  Russians,  297; 
effect  of  the  climate  on  his  health, 
300;  unnatural  life,  ib.;  un- 
diminished  vivacity,  301,  312; 
"La  Maratre,"  309;  "Mercadet" 
or  "Le  Faiseur,"  310;  his  failing 
health,  312,  315,  328,  341,  349; 
candidature  for  the  Academic 
Francaise,  314;  return  to  Russia, 
315;  on  the  character  of  the 
Comtesse  Georges  Mniszech,  316; 
strained  relations  with  his  family, 
318-22;  his  irritability,  319;  his 
letters  to  Madame  Surville,  323- 
325,  334;  letters  to  old  friends, 
327;  sufferings  from  aneurism  of 


the  heart,  330;  attack  of  fever, 
330;  marriage,  338;  his  happi- 
ness, 339;  journey  to  Dresden, 
341;  at  Frankfort,  342;  indiffer- 
ence of  his  wife,  344;  arrival  at 
home,  346;  interview  with  the 
doctor,  352;  his  death,  353-6; 
funeral,  356;  pall-bearers,  356; 
his  debts  paid  off,  359;  pillage 
of  his  house,  360;  scattered 
manuscripts,  361 ;  characteristics, 
362-6;  aim  of  his  writings,  362; 
realism,  363;  pessimistic  view  of 
life,  364;  a  poet  and  idealist,  365; 
creative  powers,  i&. 

Balzac,  Madame  Honor£,  pays  off 
Balzac's  debts,  359;  extravagance 
of  her  daughter,  359;  her  death, 
360 

Balzac,  Laure,  26;  her  marriage, 
70;  see  Surville 

Balzac,  Laurence,  26;  her  marriage, 
i&.;  death,  27 

Balzac,  Madame  de,  her  character, 
25,  76;  children,  26-8;  treatment 
of  Honore,  28;  capacity  for  busi- 
ness, 141 ;  relations  with  Honor£, 
141-3,  318-22;  her  illness,  167, 
326,  346;  installed  in  the  Rue 
Fortunee,  315;  present  at  the 
death  of  her  son,  356 

Balzac,  M.  de,  23;  a  Royalist,  24; 
his  marriage,  24;  at  Tours,  24; 
pamphlets,  24;  character,  24,  76; 
optimism,  25;  death,  25,  88;  in 
charge  of  the  Commissariat  of  the 
First  Division  of  the  army,  42; 
pecuniary  losses,  50;  discovery 
of  his  birth  register,  106 

Barbier,  partner  with  Balzac,  82 

Baroche,  M.,  at  the  funeral  of 
Balzac,  356 

Bartolini,  his  bust  of  Madame 
Hanska,  219 

Bartolommeo,  Fra,  his  picture  of 
the  "  Holy  Family,"  307 

Bayeux,  70 

"Beatrix,"  264 


370 


INDEX 


Beauregard,  Chateau  de,  360;  sale 
of,  ib. 

Beauvoir,  Roger  de,  204 

Beaux-Arts,  Director  of  the,  his 
offer  to  Balzac,  242 

Bechet,  Madame  Charles,  the  pub- 
lisher, 159;  transactions  with 
Balzac,  159,  160;  her  marriage, 
206 

Bellizard  and  Dufour,  MM.,  pro- 
prietors of  the  Revue  fitrangere 
de  St.  Petersbourg,  200 

Belloy,  Marquis  de,  192,  200 

Benzelin,  M.,  42 

Berditchef,  Church  of  Saint  Barbe 
at,  338 

Berges,  M.,  184 

Berlin,  258 

Bernard,  Charles  de,  154,  157,  192 

Berny,  Madame  de,  her  friendship 
with  Balzac,  76,  77,  89,  128; 
character,  77;  portrait,  79; 
children,  ib. ;  assistance  to  Balzac, 
84;  parting  with  him,  139; 
criticism  of  "Louis  Lambert," 
139;  illness,  163;  death,  210 

Berry,  Duchesse  de,  her  captivity, 
186;  delight  in  Balzac's  books, 
186 

Berthoud,  M.  Henri,  manager  of 
the  Gazette  de  Cambrai,  183 

Besancon,  154 

Eire,  M.  Edmond,  106;  "  Honore" 
de  Balzac,"  294  note,  303  note, 
308  note,  310  note,  314  note 

Blaye,  Castle  of,  186 

Blojs,  270 

Bohain,  169;  contract  with  Balzac, 
214 

Bonnaire,  196,  200 

Borel,  Mile.  Henriette,  136,  153, 
286;  her  reception  into  the  Con- 
vent de  la  Visitation,  262 

Borget,  Auguste,  92;  his  friendship 
with  Balzac,  92,  328 

Bougival,  294 

Boulanger,  his  portrait  of  Balzac, 
171-5,  177 


Boulonniere,  La,  164,  212 

Bourges,  270 

Bourget,  Lac  du,  144 

Brindeau,  Achille,  196 

Brody,  298 

Brugnolle,  Madame  de,  246,  278 

Brunne,  Claire,  208 

Brussels,  270 

Buisson,  225,  237 

Buloz,  M.,  director  of  the  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes,  196;  his  relations 
with  Balzac,  196-201;  contract, 
198;  action  against,  201;  lawsuit, 
203 

Campenon,  M.  Vincent,  262 

Canezac,  Saint-Martin  de,  106 

Cannstadt,  269 

"  Carabbas,  The  Marquis  of,"  160 

Caricature,  110 

Carlsruhe,  269 

Carraud,   Madame,  her   friendship 

with   Balzac,   90;   character,   ib.; 

her  views  on  marriage,  91 ;  letters 

from  Balzac,  327,  339 
Carraud,  M.,  director  of  the  mili- 
tary school  at  Saint  Cyr,  90 
Castries,  Madame  la  Marquise  de, 

9,  117,  130;  her  appearance,  130; 

relations  with  Balzac,  131,  145-7; 

character,     132;     rupture     with 

Balzac,  146 
"  Centenaire,  Le,"  72 
"C&ar  Birotteau,"  8,  47,  84,  124, 

127,  221 
Chaillot,  211 
Chalons,  270 
Chambord,  Madame  and  the  Comte 

de,  their  exile,  186 
Champfleury,  "  Balzac  au  College," 

34  note;  "  Grandes  Figures  d'Hier 

et     d'Aujourd'hui,"     302     note; 

"  Notes    Historiques    sur   M.    de 

Balzac,"  302  note 
Champrosay,  102 
Chapelain,  M.,  175 
Chateaubriand,  M.,  314 
"  Chaumiere  et  le  Chateau,  La,"  265 


INDEX 


371 


Chewier,  Andre,  95 

"  Cheval  Rouge,"  association,  217; 
members,  218 

Chimay,  Princesse  de,  78 

Chinon,  185 

"  Chouans,  Les,"  64,  86,  102 

Chronique  de  Paris,  11,  192 

Cogniard,    director    of    the    Porte 

Saint-Martin,  309 

^"Comedie  Humaine,"  18,  159,  351; 
preface  to,  252;  divisions,  254-5 

Comte,  Bois  le,  109 

Constitutional,  letter  in  the,  303 

"  Contemporaine,  L'Envers  de 
1'Histoire,"  263,  297 

"Contes  Drolatiques,"  8,  116,  135; 
partially  burnt,  167;  criticism  of, 
197 

"Coqsigrue,"  64 

Corsica,  222 

"  Cousin  Pons,  Le,"  7,  279,  306 

"Cousine  Bette,  La,"  7,  168,  279, 
286 

Cracow,  298 

"Cromwell,"  64;  plot  of  the  trag- 
edy, 67;  adverse  criticisms  on,  69 

Cunmer,  "  Les  Francais  peints  par 
eux-memes,"  edited  by,  51 

Czarouski,  Abb£  Comte,  performs 
the  ceremony  of  Balzac's  mar- 
riage, 338 

Dablin,  M.  Theodore,  57,  93,  182, 

327;  friendship  with  Balzac,  93 
Daffinger,  his  miniature  of  Madame 

Hanska,  138,  175 
Decazes,  M.,  5 
'Delannoy,  Madame,  93,  327 
Dennery,  M.,  312 
"  Depute  d'Arcis,  Le,"  286,  358 
"  Derniere  Fee,  La,"  72,  73,  166 
"  Deux  Philosophes,  Les,"  64 
Dickens,  Charles,  his  portrayal  of 

character,  366 

Dorval,  Madame,  5,  249,  309,  313 
Dresden,  259,  269,  270,  341 
"Droit  d'Ainesse,  Du,"  75 
"  Duchesse  de  Langeais,"  131,  163 


Duckett,  M.  William,  founds  the 
Chronique  de  Paris,  19-2 

Dujarier,  M.,  manager  of  La  Preste, 
264;  killed  in  a  duel,  265 

Dumas,  M.  Alexandre,  173,  204; 
44 L'Alchemiste,"  233,  "La  Reine 
Margot,"  269,  293;  at  the  funeral 
of  Balzac,  356 

Durand,  Madame  Veuve,  211 

Durer,  Albert,  his  "Portrait  of  a 
Woman,"  307 

Dutacq,  M.,  358 

£cho  de  la  Jeune  France,  203 
"  ficole  des  Menages,  L',"  231 
"  Enfant  Maudit,  L',"  197 
"  Enquete  sur  la  Politique  des  Deux 

Ministeres,"  182 

44  Episode  sous  la  Terreur,  Un,"  46 
44  fitrangere,  L',"  letters  from,  133 

et  seq. 

44  fitudes  Analytiques,"  159,  255 
44  fitudes   de   Moeurs   au   XlXieme 

Siecle,"  159,  213 

"Etudes  Philosophiques,"  159,  254 
44  Eugenie  Grandet,"  161 
"Europe  Litteraire,  L',"   116,  203 
44  Expiation,  L',"  133 

44  Facino  Cane,"  215 

44  Faiseur,  Le,"  comedy,  310 

"  Fausse  Maitresse,  La,"  243 

Fessart,  M.,  358 

Feuillide,    Capo    de,    manager    of 

L'Europe  Litteraire,  203 
Figaro,    98;     article    in    the,    on 

Balzac's  method  of  composition, 

124-7 

44  Fille  aux  Yeux  d'Or,  La,"  216 
FitzJames,   Due   de,   130,   146,   185 
FitzJames,  Laure  Auguste  de,  78 
Flaubert,  character  of  his  books,  364 
Florence,  219 
Fontainebleau,  270 
Forbach,  287 
Forfellier,  manager  of  the  Echo  d« 

la  Jeune  France,  203 
Fortunee,   Rue,   Balzac's  house  in 


372 


INDEX 


the,  283,  305;  decorations  and 
furniture,  284,  306;  gallery,  306; 
pictures,  307;  costs,  308;  dis- 
persal, 360 

Fougeres,  Chateau  of,  86,  102,  182 

"  Francais,  Les,  peints  par  eux- 
memes,"  51 

France,  Revolution  of  1848,  301 

"  France  et  1'fitranger,  La,"  192 

Franck,  Dr.,  315 

Frankfort,  342 

Frapesle,  90,  221 

"  Fraternite  Universelle,  Club  de 
la,"  303 

Fronsac,  Due  de,  78 

Gatien,  St.,  Cathedral  of,  40 

"  Gaudissart  II.,"  263 

Gautier,  Theophile,  "  Portraits  Con- 
temporaines — Honor6  de  Balzac," 
16  note,  23  note,  216  note,  230 
note,  348  note,  349  note,  363  note; 
on  the  failure  of  "  Pamela 
Giraud,"  57;  on  the  portrait  of 
Balzac,  171;  his  friendship  with 
him,  194;  his  sonnets,  194; 
member  of  the  "  Cheval  Rouge  " 
association,  217;  on  Balzac's  pro- 
jected play  "  Vautrin,"  237-9; 
on  Madame  Girardin,  294;  his 
description  of  Balzac's  house  in 
the  Rue  Fortunee,  305;  on  his 
death,  350 

Gay,  Delphine,  97;  see  Girardin 

Gay,  Madame  Sophie,  96;  "  Ana- 
tole,"  96 

Genera,  147,  162,  209 

Genoa,  218,  219 

Gens-de-Lettres,  Societ6  des,  245; 
the  code,  180,  245 

Geoffroy,  312 

Germany,  impressions  of,  259 

Germeau,  M.,  Prefect  of  Metz,  281 

"  Gertrude,  tragedie  bourgeoise,"309 

Girardin,  fimile  de,  editor  of  La 
Presse,  11,  97;  his  letters  to 
Balzac,  109;  editor  of  La  Mode, 
ib.;  relations  with  Balzac,  161; 


dispute  with  him,  263, 273,  289-94; 
demand  for  payment,  313 
Girardin,    Madame    de,    97;    "La 
Canne  de  M.  de  Balzac,"  18,  98; 
style   of   her   conversation,    276; 
on  the  relations  between  Balzac 
and   Madame    Hanska,   281;   her 
last  note  to  Balzac,  290;  on  the 
news  of  his  death,  294;  her  death, 
ib.;  character,  294 
Giraud,  his  portrait  of  Balzac,  356 
"  Goncourts,  Journal  des,"  361  note 
"osselin,  the  publisher,  133,  161 
Got,  312 
"  Gouvernement  Moderne,  Du,"  183 

note 

Gozlan,  Ldon,  204;  on  the  versality 
of  Balzac,  4;  on  his  reserve,  10; 
"  Balzcc  en  Pantoufles,"  21  note, 
232  note;  member  of  the  "  Cheval 
Rouge"   association,  217;   "Bal- 
zac Chez  Lui,"  245  note 
Gramont,  Comte  de,  192 
Grand-Besan^on,  M.,  184 
Grandmain,  M.,  246 
"Grenadiere,  La,"  112,  209 
Guidoboni-Visconti,  Comte,  207 
Guillonet-Merville,  M.  de,  46 

Hague,  La,  270 

Hamelin,  Madame,  351  note 

Hanotaux  and  Vicaire,  MM.,  "  La 
Jeunesse  de  Balzac,"  77  note,  139 
note 

Hanska,  Countess  Anna,  136;  her 
engagement,  269 ;  marriage,  281 ; 
see  Mniszech 

Hanska,  Madame,  2;  letters  from 
Balzac,  2,  5,  13;  on  "La  Peau  de 
Chagrin,"  117;  correspondence 
with  Balzac,  133,  149;  life  in  the 
chateau  of  Wierzchownia,  136; 
early  life,  137;  death  of  her 
children,  137;  character,  137; 
intellect,  138;  miniature,  ib., 
175;  appearance,  139,  155;  her 
relations  with  Balzac,  152,  158, 
256,  265-9,  278,  299,  316,  322, 


INDEX 


37* 


329;  at  Neufch&tel,  153;  meet- 
ing with  Balzac,  155;  death  of 
her  husband,  247;  feelings  to- 
wards Balzac,  257,  266;  vacilla- 
tions, 266,  281,  328;  at  Dresden, 
266;  in  Paris,  270,  286;  at  Wies- 
baden, 280;  her  secret  engage- 
ment, 281;  theft  of  her  letters, 
288;  lawsuits,  318;  wishes  to 
break  off  her  engagement,  322, 
329;  ignorance  of  Balzac's  illness, 
331 ;  characteristics,  332 ;  maternal 
love,  333;  character  of  her  affec- 
tion for  Balzac,  i6.;  at  Kiev, 
336;  her  marriage,  338;  journey 
to  Dresden,  341;  at  Frankfort, 
342;  her  pearl  necklace,  t&.; 
letter  to  her  daughter,  343;  want 
of  feeling  for  her  husband,  344 
345;  pays  off  his  debts,  359; 
death,  360 

Hanski,  M.  Vencelas  de,  136;  his 
character,  137;  liking  for  Balzac, 
156;  his  death,  247 

Harel,  manager  of  the  Theatre 
Porte-St.  Martin,  237 

Hedouin,  Edmond,  306 

"  Heritiere  de  Birague,  L',"  72,  73, 
166 

Hetzel,  his  advice  to  Balzac  on 
writing  a  preface,  252 

Hinner,  Joseph,  77 

Hinner,  Louise  Antoinette  Laure, 
78;  see  Berny 

'  Histoire  des  Treize,  L',"  116 

Historique,  Theatre,  294 

Hobbema,  his  picture  "  A  Land- 
scape," 307 

"  Honorine,"  264 

Hostein,  M.,  director  of  the  Theatre 
Historique,  294;  "  Historiettes  et 
Souvenirs  d'un  Homme  de 
Theatre,"  295  note,  363  note; 
accepts  the  comedy  "  Le  Faiseur," 
311 

Houssaye,  Arsene,  on  Balzac's  in- 
terview with  his  doctor,  352  note 

Hugo,  Victor,  261 ;  "  Choses  Vues," 


26  note,  350  note,  351,  353  note; 
his  visits  to  Balzac,  350,  351;  on 
his  death,  353-5;  at  his  funeral, 
356;  "Ruy  Bias,"  232 

"Illusions  Perdues,"  84,  185,  206, 

207,  222 
Indre,  the,  94 

"  Initie,  L',"  297;  sale  of,  301 
Italy,  proposed  visit  to,  147;  visits 

to,  207,  218,  224 

Jacquillard,  Madame,  206 

"  Jane  la  Pale,"  166 

Janin,  Jules,  204 

"  Jardies,  Les,"  220;  characteristics 
of,  225-9;  imaginary  decora- 
tions, 226;  the  garden,  227;  wall, 
228;  fictitious  sale,  246 

Jargayes,  Chevalier  de,  78 

"Jean-Louis,"  72,  73,  166 

"  Jesuites,  Histoire  impartiale  des,'*" 
75 

Jitomir,  Bishop  of,  338 

Kiev,  297,  328;   "Foire  des  Con- 

trats"  at,  335 
Kisselef,  Countess,  351  note 
Knothe,     Dr.,     his     treatment    of 

Balzac's  case,  330 

Laborde,  Madame  Quelpe'e  de,  78 
Lacressoniere,  Madame,  309 
Lamartine,  303;   on   Balzac's  eyes,. 

16;  on  his  appearance,  17 
Lamennais,   M.   de  "  Paroles   d'un 

Croyant,"  245 
Languedoc,  23 
Laurent,  M.,  84 
Laurent-Jan,  310 
Laurentie,  M.,  185 
Lassailly,  231 
Lausanne,  209 
Lemaitre,   Frederick,  240,  311;   at 

"  Les  Jardies,"  227 
Lemer,  Julien,  "  Balzac,  sa  Vie,  son. 

CEuvre,"  300  note,  301  note 
Lepitre,  M.,  tutor  to  Balzac,  42 


INDEX 


•"  Lettres  a  1'fitrangere,"  13,  150 

Levavasseur,  M.,  109 

Lireux,  director  of  the  Od6on,  249 

Livonia,  258 

""  Livre  Mystique,  Le,"  202 

Lockroy,  M.,  manager  of  the 
Theatre  Francais,  310 

Locquin,  the  publisher,  265 

Loeve-Veimars,  M.,  204 

Loir  River,  35 

Loire  canal  scheme,  210 

Louis  XVI.,  78 

Louis  XVII.,  78 

"  Louis  Lambert,"  35,  48,  94,  139 

"  Louise,"  her  correspondence  with 
Balzac,  215 

Lowell,  Frances  Sarah,  208 

Lyons,  270 

"Lys  dans  la  Vallee,  Le,"  94,  199; 
substituted  for  the  "  M6moires 
d'une  Jeune  Mariee,"  199;  pref- 
ace, 203;  sale,  212 

"Maison  du  Chat-qui-pelote,  La," 

64,  84 

"  Maison  de  Nucingen,  La,"  222 
"Maitre  Cornelius,  Le,"  113 
Mame,  the  publisher,  161 
"Maratre,  La,"  309 
Marbouty,    Madame,  her   relations 

with   Balzac,  208-9;   resemblance 

to     George     Sand,     209 ;     "  Une 

Fausse  Position,"  209 
"Marcas,  Z.,"  243 
Margonne,  Madame  de,  94 
Margonne,    M.    de,    93,    102,    113, 

207 

Marie  Antoinette,  78 
Marseilles,  222,  271 
"  Massimilla  Doni,"  222 
"  Medecin  de  Campagne,  Le,"  147, 

161,  190 
Melingue,  309 
"  Memoires    d'une   Jeune   Marine," 

199,  201,  205 
*'  Memoires    de    deux    Jeunes    Ma- 

riees,  Les,"  243 
*"  Manage  de  Garcon,  Un,"  243 


"  Mercadet,"  comedy,  310 

"Mercadet  le  Faiseur,"  311,  358; 
production  of,  312 

Merville,  M.  Guillonet  de,  78 

Me"ry,  204,  271 

"  Message,  Le,"  197 

"Messe  de  1'Athee,  La,"  92 

Michaud,  De,  "  Biographic  Univer- 
selle,"  43  note 

Milan,  218,  224 

Mniszech,  Comte  Georges,  296;  his 
engagement,  263,  269;  collection 
of  insects,  280;  marriage,  280;  a 
witness  of  Balzac's  marriage,  338; 
his  delicate  state  of  health,  359 

Mniszech,  Comtesse  Georges,  Balzac 
on  her  character,  316 ;  appearance, 
317;  visit  to  Kiev,  336;  attack  of 
measles,  341;  extravagances,  359; 
creditors,  360 

Mode,  La,  109 

"  Modeste  Mignon,"  263 

Molleville,  Bertrand  de,  24 

"  Monographic  de  la  Presse  Paris- 
ienne,"  206,  260 

Mont  C6nis,  225 

Montalembert,  Comte  de,  117 

Montriveau,  Armand  de,  his  char- 
acter and  appearance,  132 

Montrouge,  plain  of,  225 

Montzaigle,  M.  Saint-Pierre  de,  26; 
refuses  to  support  his  children, 
210 

Moscow,  328 

Munch,  Francois,  his  preparations 
for  Balzac's  return,  346;  attack 
of  madness,  347 

Munich,  165 

Nacquart,  Dr.,  122,  164 

Naples,  271 

Napoleon    I.,    Emperor,    his    last 

review   on   the   Carrousel,   44 
Nemours,  113 
Neufchatel,  153 
Noailles,  Due  de,  185,  314 
Nodier,  Charles,  169,  261 
Nohant,  221 


INDEX 


375 


Nord,  Chemin  de  Fer  du,  shares 

in  the,  291 
Norton,  Mrs.,  290 
Nougarie,  La,  106 

Odeon  Theatre,  249 
Olizar,  Comte  Gustave,  338 
Orleans,  270 

Ourliac,      Edouard,     on      Balzac's 
method  of  composition,   124-7 

"Pamela  Giraud,"  51,  260;  failure 

of,  57 
"Parents  Pauvres,  Les,"  278,  300, 

348 

Paris,  letters  on,  110 
Passez,  M.,  46 
Passy,  246,  269,  271 
"Paysans,    Les,"    189,    261,    263-5, 

358 
"  Peau  de  Chagrin,"  48,  59,  63,  89, 

113,  117-9;  its  cynical  tone,  117 
Pelissier,  Mile.  Olympe,  119,  169 
"Pere  Goriot,  Le,"  7,  164 
Pere  la  Chaise  cemetery,  356 
Per6m£,  M.  Armand,  92,  232 
Periollas,  M.,  92,  327 
"  Perle  Brisee,"  213 
St.  Petersburg,  256 
Petigny,    M.    de,    62;    on    Balzac's 

mode  of  writing,  66 
"  Petites  Miseres  de  la  Vie  Conju- 

gale,"  262 

"  Petits  Bourgeois,  Les,"  310,  358 
Peytel,  condemned  to  death,  234; 

execution,  235 

Philippon,  M.,  editor  of  the  Cari- 
cature, 110 

"  Physiologic  du  Mariage,"  102,  117 
Pichot,  Amed£e,  111,  203;  disputes 

with   Balzac,   113-6;   161;   retires 

from    the    management    of    the 

Revue  de  Paris,  196 
"Pierre    et    Catherine,"    historical 

drama,  294 

"Pierre  Grasson,"  243 
Pineapples,  scheme  for  growing,  229 
Piombo,  Sebastian  del,  his  picture 


"Chevalier  de  Malte  en  Priere," 

307 

Planche,  Gustave,  192;  his  criti- 
cism of  the  "  Contes  drdlatiques," 

197 

Pohrbyszcze,  Chateau  of,  137 
Poitevin,  M.  Le,  73,  166 
Pommereul,  General  Baron  de,  102, 

182 

Pongerville,  M.  de,  261 
Portal,  M.  Charles,  106 
Pot-de-Fer,  Rue  du,  outbreak  of  fire 

in  the  printing  office  in  the,  167 
Prat,  Lamartine  de,  "  Balzac  et  ses 

CEuvres,"  190  note 
"Premiere    Demoiselle,    La,"    221,. 

230 

Presse,  La,  97 
"  Prince  de  la  Boheme,  Un,"  243 

Quotidienne,  185,  205 

Rabou,  Charles,  editor  of  the  Revue- 
de  Paris,  111,  196,  358 

"  Rabouilleuse,  La,"  264 

Railway  du  Nord  speculation,  273- 

Ratier,  Victor,  editor  of  the  Sil- 
houette, 110 

"  Recherche  de  1'Absolu,  La,"  119, 
164 

Regnault,  M.  Smile,  166,  192,  200 

Renaissance  Theatre,  232 

"  Rendez-vous,  Le,"  197 

Rdnovateur,  The,  185 

"  Ressources  de  Quinola,  Les,"  4,. 
249-52 

Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  196 

Revue  titrangere  de  St.  Petert- 
bourg,  200,  204 

Revue  de  Paris,  103,  111,  196;  law- 
suit against  M.  de  Balzac,  103-5, 
201 

Revue  Parisienne,  the  first  number, 
244 

"Richard,  Coeur  d'fiponge,"  276 

"  Richard  Savage,"  proposed  play,. 
310 

Rodin,  M.,  his  statue  of  Balzac,  17& 


376 


INDEX 


•"  Roi  des  Mendiants,  Le,"  312 

Rolle,  Hippolyte,  310 

Rome,  visit  to,  277 

Roqueplan,  Nestor,  director  of  the 

Theatre  des  Varietes,  275 
Rossini,  169 
Rotterdam,  270 
Rouy,  M.,  290,  293 
Rzewuska,  Countess  Eve,  137;  see 

Hanska 
Rzewuski,  Count  Henry,  137 

Sache,  94,  102,  113,  139, 185,212,220 

,Saint-Cyr,  military  school  at,  90 

.Sainte-Beuve  at  the  funeral  of 
Balzac,  356 

,Saint-Firmin,  76 

Saint-Joseph,  M.  Anthoine  de,  196 

Saint-Priest,  M.  de,  elected  a 
member  of  the  Academic  Fran- 
caise,  314 

.Sallambier,  Madame,  25 

,Sand,  George,  95,  221 ;  "  Autour  de 
la  Table,"  10  note,  19  note,  100 
note;  her  anecdote  of  Balzac,  10; 
on  his  character,  15;  on  the 
"  Com6die  Humaine,"  18;  her 
friendship  with  Balzac,  100;  rup- 
ture with  Jules  Sandeau,  100; 
her  appearance,  101 

-Sandeau,  Jules,  22,  95,  192,  200; 
his  rupture  with  George  Sand, 
101,  120;  "Marianna,"  101;  on 
Balzac's  mode  of  working,  108; 
his  relations  with  him,  120; 
member  of  the  "  Cheval  Rouge " 
association,  217 

Sardinia,  impressions  of,  224; 
mining  scheme,  219 

"  Savant,  Le,"  75 

"  Scenes  de  la  Vie  Privee,"  103,  116, 
134,  159;  "Province,"  159, 
254;  "  Parisienne,"  159,  254; 
"Militaire,"  254;  "  Politique," 
ib.;  "  Campagne,"  ib. 

Sclopis,  Comte,  208 

.Scott,  Sir  Walter,  Balzac's  admira- 
tion for,  365 


Scribe,  Eugene,  46 

"  Secret  des  Ruggieri,  Le,"  213 

Sddillot,  M.,  84 

"  Seraphita,"  8,  196,  199,  202 

Sevres,  "  Les  Jardies,"  221 

Sganzer,  M.,  42 

Silhouette,  110 

Soulie,     Frederic,  254 

Spectateur  Republicain,  Le,  301 

Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul,  Vicomte 
de,  "  La  Genese  d'un  Roman  de 
Balzac,"  11  note,  109  note,  264, 
270  note,  274  note,  286  note,  289 
note,  290  note,  291  note,  301  note, 
313  note,  358  note;  "  Une  Page 
Perdue  de  Honor£  de  Balzac,"  73 
note,  114  note,  166  note,  281  note, 
326  note,  346  note;  his  collection 
of  letters,  91  note;  "  Autour  de 
Honor6  de  Balzac,"  92  note,  116 
note,  171  note,  195  note,  208  note, 
232  note,  253  note;  "  Un  Roman 
d' Amour,"  154,  note,  155  note,  346 
note;  "  Un  dernier  Chapitre,"  199 
note;  "  Histoire  des  QEuvres  de 
Balzac,"  351  note;  see  also  Pref- 
ace 

"  Splendeurs  et  Miseres  des  Courti- 
sanes,"  263 

"  Stella,"  64 

Strasburg,  269 

Sue,  Eugene,  204 

Surville  Madame  de,  "  Balzac,  sa 
Vie  et  ses  CEvres,  d'apres  la 
Correspondance,"  20  note,  33 
note,  40  note,  58  note,  162  note, 
236  note;  "  Le  Compagnon  du 
Foyer,"  29;  affection  for  her 
brother  Honor£,  29,  32;  her  mar- 
riage, 30,  70;  illness,  167;  letter 
from  Honor£  on  his  proposed 
marriage,  323-5 

Surville,  M.  Midy  de  la  Greneraye, 
his  marriage,  30,  70;  jealousy  of 
Balzac,  31;  money  troubles,  32; 
Loire  canal  scheme,  210 

Surville,  Sophie,  316 

Surville,  Valentine,  316 


INDEX 


377 


"  T£n£breuse  Affaire,  Une,"  46,  47, 

243 
Touche,  La,  editor  of  the  Figaro, 

94;   friendship   with   Balzac,  95; 

his  pupils,  16.;  character,  ib. 
Touraine,  character  of  the  scenery, 

40 

Tours,  24,  270;  cathedral,  40 
Turin,  207 

Ukraine,  135 

"  Ursule  Mirouet,"  243 

Vacquerie,  M.,  314 

Varaigne,  Victor,  109 

Vatout,  M.,  314 

"  Vautrin,  La  Derniere  Incarnation 

de,"   237-9,   286,   290;   plot,  290; 

performance,    ib.;    failure,    241; 

produced  at  Gafte,  309 
41  Vieille  Fille,  La,"  211,  213 
Venddme,  semi-military  college  at, 

34 

Venice,  219 
Veron,  Dr.,  Ill 
Vevey,  209 


"  Vicaire  des  Ardennes,  Le,"  72, 
74 

"  Vie  de  Femme,  Une,"  44 

Vienna,  165 

Villefranche,   186 

Villeparisis,  52 

Visconti,  Madame,  224;  her  rela- 
tions with  Balzac,  242,  247 

Visitation,  Couvent  de  la,  262 

Voleur,  110 

"  Voyage  de  Paris  a  Java,"  116 

"  Wann  Chlore,"  72 

Wedmore,  Frederick,  "  Life  of  Bal- 
zac," 360  note 

Werdet,  his  failure,  11,  212;  on 
Balzac's  mode  of  life,"  121;  on 
his  personal  charm,  179 

Wierzchownia,  135,  295 

Wiesbaden,  280 

Wylezynska,  Miles.  Denise  and 
Severine,  136 

Zola,  fimile,  his  view  of  the  char- 
acter of  man,  364 


THE   END 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


QCT30ISSI 


MAY  2  11 

JOW 


MIR 


51977 


irm  L9-Series  44 


7  1978 


C    ^ 


UL.  o 


DEC 


LD-URl 


